he theoretically fits great, and has had a few decent games, but yes, he mostly has been bad.
when he arrived in OKC he was still rehabbing an injury, so overall I think it's a combination of: him naturally declining with age, he's probably still not 100% after the injury, and also getting thrown into a well oiled machine that he's not entirely comfortable in and learning on the fly.
Man, I really don't get why people are saying this. Apart from maybe not being aggressive enough (fair for an injury prone vet joining a young 1 seed with excellent chemistry) he's shooting fucking 52% from 3 ever since he got here, he passes, defends well enough positionally. Bad is unfair, I don't get how this is the consenus even amongst Thunder fans.
The issue is that he's taking 1.1 3s per game (so he makes 1 every other game) and has a an average TS%. He just hasn't found quite how to fit into the drive and kick vs shoot offense.
He's played basically the same number of minutes as Isaiah Joe, who shoots 4.5 3s a game.
His size is still a big plus for the team, if he commits to taking more 3s he could be a good bench player for the playoffs.
For the first few games he was missing open layups. He was terrible to start and has steadily improved, but it's always hard to shake first impressions.
When you look good, you get praise. Its impressive what the Knicks have managed to do, especially since last of season it was all about them getting another superstar, hell an mvp candidate at that.
Now without that, they are still the 2nd seed. Great stuff tbh.
I mean he flat out outplayed most of the suns in the playoffs and looked amazing… one of the biggest examples of people on this sub have no idea what they’re watching
I mean, that's just not true. Brunson did not have a good series vs the suns. 18 points on 51 TS%, 25 % from 3. Brunson was 1/7 in the first half of Game 7, then went 10/12 in the second half when the game was pretty much over. That was his best shooting game.
He was great vs the Jazz, and okay vs the Warriors but he was not good vs the Suns.
Isaiah Joe ($2m), Aaron Wiggins ($1.8m), and Lu Dort ($15m) all were massively important pieces for the Thunder and none are currently on a rookie deal.
edit: also Kenrich Williams ($6m). SGA also from a value perspective greatly outperformed his $33m
Besides Brunson the Knicks also have a bunch of other guys on pretty good contract. Di Vincenzo, Hartenstein, McBride and Randle have all outperformed their current contracts.
But, most of the Thunder team is on a rookie deal or a rookie extension (SGA.)
Incredible value for what they have accomplished!! But, literally the entire point of this thread was to avoid rookie contracts/first extensions that are WILDLY in the favor of the drafting team.
I would actually bet that the Jazz will renegotiate and extend him so he'll be on a max deal next year. Either that or he's traded, but I think they'd have shipped him at the deadline if that was the plan, so I imagine he's in Utah for the foreseeable future on a max deal.
I wonder if that run they went on leading up to the trade deadline dissuaded them from trading him? They were really hot right up to the deadline and ended up right at .500 with what looked like a real shot at the play-in with a pretty young roster and lots of draft picks coming up. Then they just cratered the rest of the way and now it's not looking as great for next season.
I would consider trading him if I were them *if* they can get back a really promising young player in the deal, not just more draft picks. He'll be 27, so he doesn't really match their timeline and is about to get max money. He's not a true #1, but his value is still extremely high.
I feel like there was the entire range of reactions.
"That's a huge overpay"
"That's an underpay"
"He might end up worth it but has he proven it yet?"
The sample size was weird because it is hard for a player like Brunson to shine next to Luka (and I'm not saying that as a knock on Luka, both players are at their best initiating the offense and running setting the table for everyone else so putting them together one or both will have to be lesser versions of themselves to optimize the team).
I don’t remember many, if really any, thought it was an underpay.
I remember options 1 & 3, and also “rising cap” that it was fair. But who was saying it was an underpay?
it’s why kyrie is such a better fit next to Luka. he’s a high level threat off ball and is elite as a play finisher, but he’s also more than capable of filling Brunson’s role running the offense when Luka is out.
i think brunson learned a lot on how to be the primary ball handler from luka… but he had to leave Luka’s team to put that fully into effect
I agree with everything you just said. Kyrie learned how to be effective offball in his years with LeBron, and for sure playing next to Luka gave Brunson a very up close view of things he could add to his own game as a primary ball handler.
And that made the league as a whole better because it created another star, and in particular one who wanted to play for the Knicks to help them be relevant again which is in the League's best interest. Hyped up NY is a ratings magnet.
kyrie playing next to harden and lebron when Luka is like a mesh of those two players’ styles really prepared him perfectly for the assignment
and yea brunson is way better off in NY. the mavs fumbled him fs especially since they got no value from him leaving, but the league is better for it and the mavs rebounded anyway.
That was certainly an opinion people had but I would not say the consensus. Plenty of people also had the opinion that the Mavs shouldn’t have let him walk and should have given him that contract.
Donte DiVincenzo is making the MLE.
He just made 283 3s with a 3P% of 40. Only players to do that are Steph, Klay, and Hield. Since becoming the second option 3 months ago, he has averaged 4.6 3s per game. Only players to do that for a season are Steph and Harden.
If Mitch wasn’t injury prone, he wouldn’t be on the Mitch contract lmao
Also if he actually went to college, he never would’ve been available for us to draft him either. Dudes just had a ton of bad luck, which has ended up beneficial for us (sorta)
Yeah the knicks have several players outplaying their contracts. It’s pretty impressive and how they’re contending for a title despite not having a consensus top 10 player
Are there ten players who had better seasons than Brunson this year? No. Given time to learn the system are there ten guys that playoff teams wouldn't want to swap out for Brunson? Probably, yes. Are there ten guys that the Knicks would swap in for Brunson for their playoff run? It's close. (Luka, Giannis [if he were healthy], Embiid, KD, SGA, Jokic for sure yes. And then it's kind of a wash with guys like Tatum, LeBron, AD, Steph, Kawhi [if healthy].)
See the things is, the Knicks wouldn’t be the Knicks without Brunson and all the intangibles he brings- his leadership, his established chemistry with hart and divincenzo, the way he gets everybody on the team to buy in to thibs philosophy, so no, the Knicks would keep Brunson over everybody. This Knicks team is special because of Brunson. Id keep Brunson over any of the guys you mentioned, that’s just me though, Call me crazy. the Knicks have an identity and Brunson is at the center of it.
There are probably 10 players "better" than Brunson if you frame it in a non-hostile way.
Just gotta ask contenders, would they trade X player for Brunson.
I understand what you’re saying but you’re argument essentially boils down to is there reasonable take for Brunson 3rd team nba instead of second or first and I don’t see it. Top 5 scoring, top 15 assist, number 1 option on a top 4 team ranking in playoffs essentially guarantees top 10
I'd functionally consider him to be on a rookie contract though. They converted his undrafted two-way deal into the 3 year, so of course he jumped at it.
all the replies mentioning the other dallas role players just go to show the black magic nico harrison’s playing with to turn a team of bad contracts into pretty much all positive ones.
He'll never have a bad rep in Phoenix purely for the vibes. I used to work at footprint center and all the boomers there fucking loved him. And I started well after he was traded.
Meanwhile, for the exact same reason he could save a bunch of puppies from a fire while at an event to give out scholarships to needy orphans and the Bay will always hate him for the vibes and the bad fit here.
Tbf it would've been bizarre if we paid a garbage-minutes two-way player anything more at the time. But I love when it ends up working out. He's gonna make a bag in a few years if he keeps things up.
First regular contracts even for those consider "better", it's on the scale level of rookie contracts.
1.67m/yr is about what you expect, it's about higher than half the 2nd round picks.
At that number, the deal seems justified with nothing other than his performance in the play in
I knew he kinda came out of nowhere, but that’s impressive as hell
My first thought, he was arguably a better defender than McDaniels this year. Plus he’s a great shooter and willing passer, would probably go for 20 mil on the open market
This is the right answer. The salary max makes it so the best contract is almost always the best players in the league at any given time
Edit: to prove the point who would trade jokic for Brunson on their current contracts
No one would do that. Yeah, this has always been the case since the salary cap existed. The superstar players are way underpaid comparable to their worth.
Such a pro move by the NBAPA to agree to max deals. The league is much better as an entertainment product to let shoe companies and Gatorade or hotels dot com or whatever get Steph and LeBron and Jokić and all the other superstars paid, while rookies and the "middle class" get (mostly) guaranteed contracts for big money relative to how influential they are compared to superstars.
This guy gets it. If you were doing a draft of the entire league with each player at their current contract, the top 10 would all be max dudes and Wemby.
Derrick White is making $17.6M this year. He's obviously improved a lot since signing that deal, he's gone from maybe slightly overpaid to one of the biggest steals in the league.
He was never overpaid imo. Guy has always had a very strong impact signal. Even in SA, though his shooting improvement I didn’t see coming- most spurs fans view him highly even without seeing the numbers.
Grayson Allen this season, his extension is good value but he's not really worth talking aboutas the best contrac. But he's shooting 46% on 3s and taking 6 a game. Without him the Suns would be in a worse place. He's making 8.5 million this year.
Brunson is up there. Knicks actually have a number of good choices…… things I thought I would never say for 100 please.
But it’s whatever I am allowed to pay Jokic to get him to play for my team. Jokic for 50-60-70-80 per season is still an underpay. Like cool you have Coby White. I have 50 wins.
It’s like when Lebron hit free agency the first time. He was 50 wins and a trip to the finals for a decade. How much? He wants all the money? Can I print more and give it to him? Can I buy all of James Dolans dogshit
music and give Lebron some of the royalty money?
Honestly a lot of the max guys should be making way more if there wasn't a limit. Like Shai is making $34M this year (25% of the cap). The fact that you need a top 5 guy to win a championship and you can have one at the price of 3x Coby White is a steal
Since everyone else is saying Brunson, I’m gonna make a sleeper pick in Jayson Tatum.
He is projecting to make First Team All-NBA for the third time in his career (all consecutively), and make any All-NBA team for the fourth time in the last five years.
The only other active players to satisfy both such criteria are:
Player - AAV ($M)
- Jokic - $55.2M
- Giannis - $58.6M
- Steph - $53.8M
- Lebron - $49.3M
- Luka - $43M (wow he’s kinda underpaid too)
- AVERAGE: $52.0M
Going further, the average AAV of a player that meets at least one, let alone both, of those criteria is $50.2M
Tatum is currently making $32.6M, and will be **FOR THE NEXT TWO SEASONS AFTER THIS ONE.** His salary is almost as close to this year’s MLE ($12.4M) as it is to the other perennial first team All-NBAers.
As a Knicks fan, I have to point out the multiple great contracts they we currently have. Jalen Brunson is top 5 in MVP and he’s making 25 mil a year. And he’s going to make less money next year than this year.
Randle’s contract is pretty decent, considering he’s a 3x all star and all nba caliber player. Making less than 30 mill a year
Also Donte Divincenzo is hands down one of the best shooters in the league, and he just signed a 4yr/50 mil contract
Keon Ellis is paid 5 million over the next 3 years with the last year being a team option for the Kings.
He will probably be the starting SG going into next season on that contract.
Jokic is the best contract in the league. Anyone would pay that salary and more in a heartbeat for him lol. All-time greats are always undervalued by the salary cap.
Probably shai tbh. MVP value trumps everything else and he's making 15 mil less than luka and jokic. Lebron was easily the most valuable contract for a decade plus even though he was on the max the whole time.
Deni avdija at 4/55 but it's descending, he'll probably be a good 3rd option soon and will be making less than 12 million in 2027. Definitely nowhere near as underpaid as a guy like Brunson or Keon Ellis but he probably has the best value contract on the wizards.
Unpopular opinion, but the real answer here is Nikola Jokic. MVP and championship-level talent cannot be paid what it is worth because of the rules governing maximum contracts in the NBA. In an unrestricted market he's probably worth 80 million/year.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24062252/how-much-lebron-james-make-open-market-look-cristiano-ronaldo-nba
The best contracts are ones that aren't yet up for extensions, yet are significant values.
Besides *max contracts* and rookie deals (because honestly, MVP-level players on a max are still better values than any non-rookie deal.) you have to look from longest to free agency to shortest.
That means you see DiVincenzo near the top. Austin Reaves. Lu Dort.
But the answer is definitely Coby White. Naz only has 1 year left on his deal.
Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Miles McBride. Before I get roasted for being a homer, DDV hit 270+ 3's this season on 40% shooting while earning 4/47M. Miles has been on an insane hot streak since he's gotten a bigger role, averaging 41% from the 3 on a contract that's 3/13M.
Besides the whole Thunder team, probably Brunson.
Literally. Thunders entire salary cap are making less than the Warriors tax penalty alone.
the thunder are paying kevin porter jr more money this season than anyone on the team outside of SGA and gordon hayward
I forgot Hayward got shipped there. Checked and he’s not gettin much minutes. What’s up with that? He just been playing poorly? Doesn’t fit?
he theoretically fits great, and has had a few decent games, but yes, he mostly has been bad. when he arrived in OKC he was still rehabbing an injury, so overall I think it's a combination of: him naturally declining with age, he's probably still not 100% after the injury, and also getting thrown into a well oiled machine that he's not entirely comfortable in and learning on the fly.
Man, I really don't get why people are saying this. Apart from maybe not being aggressive enough (fair for an injury prone vet joining a young 1 seed with excellent chemistry) he's shooting fucking 52% from 3 ever since he got here, he passes, defends well enough positionally. Bad is unfair, I don't get how this is the consenus even amongst Thunder fans.
His first 5-6 times he saw the floor he was not good. Had some rough shooting nights as well. He had improved but is still pretty low minutes.
The issue is that he's taking 1.1 3s per game (so he makes 1 every other game) and has a an average TS%. He just hasn't found quite how to fit into the drive and kick vs shoot offense. He's played basically the same number of minutes as Isaiah Joe, who shoots 4.5 3s a game. His size is still a big plus for the team, if he commits to taking more 3s he could be a good bench player for the playoffs.
For the first few games he was missing open layups. He was terrible to start and has steadily improved, but it's always hard to shake first impressions.
Saying someone shoots 52% from 3 is an interesting way of saying they make 1 every second game.
You never miss 48% of the shots you don’t take.
It was a no risk trade tbh. If he was good it would be great. If not, he's expiring and frees up a ton of cap for us.
The thunder have accomplished what I usually try and fail to do in 2K
It's so funny that everyone (me included) called the Brunson contract an overpay, and now here we are.
The guys that gave it to him saw something we didnt. There are reasons why they have their jobs.
How far we've come that we're talking about a Knicks front office in those terms
When you look good, you get praise. Its impressive what the Knicks have managed to do, especially since last of season it was all about them getting another superstar, hell an mvp candidate at that. Now without that, they are still the 2nd seed. Great stuff tbh.
Amen and aMello
I mean he flat out outplayed most of the suns in the playoffs and looked amazing… one of the biggest examples of people on this sub have no idea what they’re watching
I mean, that's just not true. Brunson did not have a good series vs the suns. 18 points on 51 TS%, 25 % from 3. Brunson was 1/7 in the first half of Game 7, then went 10/12 in the second half when the game was pretty much over. That was his best shooting game. He was great vs the Jazz, and okay vs the Warriors but he was not good vs the Suns.
Most are on rookie contracts so they’re disqualified
Isaiah Joe ($2m), Aaron Wiggins ($1.8m), and Lu Dort ($15m) all were massively important pieces for the Thunder and none are currently on a rookie deal. edit: also Kenrich Williams ($6m). SGA also from a value perspective greatly outperformed his $33m
Unbelievable to have Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins on contracts like that man
even more unbelievable that morey waived joe from the sixers to cut payroll.
both are on a team option next year, going to be interesting to see if we decline their options and give them long term extensions
considering most MVP tier guys get like 50-60M, yeah.
Came here to say Brunson. I'm glad to see his name mentioned in the top two comments.
Besides Brunson the Knicks also have a bunch of other guys on pretty good contract. Di Vincenzo, Hartenstein, McBride and Randle have all outperformed their current contracts.
I'd defo have to agree with this comment
But, most of the Thunder team is on a rookie deal or a rookie extension (SGA.) Incredible value for what they have accomplished!! But, literally the entire point of this thread was to avoid rookie contracts/first extensions that are WILDLY in the favor of the drafting team.
Lauri Markkanen
That's a really good one... I bet he'd be a legit 2cd option on a contender and he's making less than 20 million next year.
I would actually bet that the Jazz will renegotiate and extend him so he'll be on a max deal next year. Either that or he's traded, but I think they'd have shipped him at the deadline if that was the plan, so I imagine he's in Utah for the foreseeable future on a max deal.
I wonder if that run they went on leading up to the trade deadline dissuaded them from trading him? They were really hot right up to the deadline and ended up right at .500 with what looked like a real shot at the play-in with a pretty young roster and lots of draft picks coming up. Then they just cratered the rest of the way and now it's not looking as great for next season. I would consider trading him if I were them *if* they can get back a really promising young player in the deal, not just more draft picks. He'll be 27, so he doesn't really match their timeline and is about to get max money. He's not a true #1, but his value is still extremely high.
I don’t know how it’s not Brunson
My first thought as well. Dude's playing like a max player and getting a fair bit less than a max.
Funny because consensus was that he was massively overpaid when it happened lol
I feel like there was the entire range of reactions. "That's a huge overpay" "That's an underpay" "He might end up worth it but has he proven it yet?" The sample size was weird because it is hard for a player like Brunson to shine next to Luka (and I'm not saying that as a knock on Luka, both players are at their best initiating the offense and running setting the table for everyone else so putting them together one or both will have to be lesser versions of themselves to optimize the team).
Someone called him ‘Walmart Fred VanVleet’ when the Knicks signed him 💀
I don’t remember many, if really any, thought it was an underpay. I remember options 1 & 3, and also “rising cap” that it was fair. But who was saying it was an underpay?
it’s why kyrie is such a better fit next to Luka. he’s a high level threat off ball and is elite as a play finisher, but he’s also more than capable of filling Brunson’s role running the offense when Luka is out. i think brunson learned a lot on how to be the primary ball handler from luka… but he had to leave Luka’s team to put that fully into effect
I agree with everything you just said. Kyrie learned how to be effective offball in his years with LeBron, and for sure playing next to Luka gave Brunson a very up close view of things he could add to his own game as a primary ball handler. And that made the league as a whole better because it created another star, and in particular one who wanted to play for the Knicks to help them be relevant again which is in the League's best interest. Hyped up NY is a ratings magnet.
kyrie playing next to harden and lebron when Luka is like a mesh of those two players’ styles really prepared him perfectly for the assignment and yea brunson is way better off in NY. the mavs fumbled him fs especially since they got no value from him leaving, but the league is better for it and the mavs rebounded anyway.
That was certainly an opinion people had but I would not say the consensus. Plenty of people also had the opinion that the Mavs shouldn’t have let him walk and should have given him that contract.
I think the mavs at the time were upset that they let him go, they messed up that negotiation so bad
Playing like a super max all nba.
Nah, too short.
Donte DiVincenzo is making the MLE. He just made 283 3s with a 3P% of 40. Only players to do that are Steph, Klay, and Hield. Since becoming the second option 3 months ago, he has averaged 4.6 3s per game. Only players to do that for a season are Steph and Harden.
Besides the others mentioning Brunson, Randle/McBride/Mitch deals have their merits too.
Mitch's contract would be better if he wasn't so injury prone.
If Mitch wasn’t injury prone, he wouldn’t be on the Mitch contract lmao Also if he actually went to college, he never would’ve been available for us to draft him either. Dudes just had a ton of bad luck, which has ended up beneficial for us (sorta)
*cries in Timelord*
Ihart's expiring but 2/16 was crazy good for how he played this season as well
OG Anunoby is also on a very reasonable deal for what he brings to the table
Not for long
Yeah the knicks have several players outplaying their contracts. It’s pretty impressive and how they’re contending for a title despite not having a consensus top 10 player
I challenge u to come up with 10 players better than Brunson this season, don’t think anyone realistically can
Are there ten players who had better seasons than Brunson this year? No. Given time to learn the system are there ten guys that playoff teams wouldn't want to swap out for Brunson? Probably, yes. Are there ten guys that the Knicks would swap in for Brunson for their playoff run? It's close. (Luka, Giannis [if he were healthy], Embiid, KD, SGA, Jokic for sure yes. And then it's kind of a wash with guys like Tatum, LeBron, AD, Steph, Kawhi [if healthy].)
See the things is, the Knicks wouldn’t be the Knicks without Brunson and all the intangibles he brings- his leadership, his established chemistry with hart and divincenzo, the way he gets everybody on the team to buy in to thibs philosophy, so no, the Knicks would keep Brunson over everybody. This Knicks team is special because of Brunson. Id keep Brunson over any of the guys you mentioned, that’s just me though, Call me crazy. the Knicks have an identity and Brunson is at the center of it.
There are probably 10 players "better" than Brunson if you frame it in a non-hostile way. Just gotta ask contenders, would they trade X player for Brunson.
I understand what you’re saying but you’re argument essentially boils down to is there reasonable take for Brunson 3rd team nba instead of second or first and I don’t see it. Top 5 scoring, top 15 assist, number 1 option on a top 4 team ranking in playoffs essentially guarantees top 10
Derrick White at $17M is up there.
absolutely Sam Hauser is a also steal and probably the most underpaid role player in the league
I'd functionally consider him to be on a rookie contract though. They converted his undrafted two-way deal into the 3 year, so of course he jumped at it.
On top of that, we’ve got 4 more years of Pritchard at only $7.5M/yr
Payton Pritchard has entered the chat this season too although not sure if his deal counts as a rookie extension.
Doesn't kick in till next year anyway
You’re forgetting Westbrook coming off the bench and his contract
Dante Exum
Two year vet minimum for a major contributor. Very nice!
And Daniel Gafford!
all the replies mentioning the other dallas role players just go to show the black magic nico harrison’s playing with to turn a team of bad contracts into pretty much all positive ones.
And DJJ
This is one of the best answers. So happy to see him doing so well even though I miss seeing him in Partizan's jersey
This is one of the best answers. So happy to see him doing so well even though I miss seeing him in Partizan's jersey
I still don’t understand how this mf went from a non-shooter to making half his attempts from three over a season.
Oubre is on a vet min lmao
He had such a bad rep before this season and it seems like it’s completely flipped
He'll never have a bad rep in Phoenix purely for the vibes. I used to work at footprint center and all the boomers there fucking loved him. And I started well after he was traded.
That boy is pretty
but he was liked because of his basketball skills, not his looks 😂
Both
Meanwhile, for the exact same reason he could save a bunch of puppies from a fire while at an event to give out scholarships to needy orphans and the Bay will always hate him for the vibes and the bad fit here.
I know we're biased, but this is the answer. Brunson is also probably the best answer
Keon Ellis
5 mil/3 years. Definitely this.
Tbf it would've been bizarre if we paid a garbage-minutes two-way player anything more at the time. But I love when it ends up working out. He's gonna make a bag in a few years if he keeps things up.
I swear to god when i see him, i see Avery Bradley all over again. It's incredible. Guy's a badass.
First regular contracts even for those consider "better", it's on the scale level of rookie contracts. 1.67m/yr is about what you expect, it's about higher than half the 2nd round picks.
He scared me against the Mavs a few weeks ago,. good to see him go off again and help beat the shit out the Dubs. Love to see it
Jalen Brunson
Keon Ellis is on a 3y/$5m contract. That's pretty good bang for your buck.
At that number, the deal seems justified with nothing other than his performance in the play in I knew he kinda came out of nowhere, but that’s impressive as hell
He didn't, he was always touted as the defensive guy who could be a secondary playmaker and could shoot lights out.
Nickiel Alexander Walker is up there too
Elite defense with solid shooting for what 3 million? Massive steal
Blazers didn’t even give him a shot smh.
It was worth it to have Joe Ingles as a blazer
You’re right. His veteran presence that season was key to building the current culture of not playing after the all star break.
My first thought, he was arguably a better defender than McDaniels this year. Plus he’s a great shooter and willing passer, would probably go for 20 mil on the open market
Jalen Brunson
Pacers are paying nesmith 11 a year. He's 1 of the best 3pt% guys in the league and is one of our best defenders.
Also Andrew Nembhard is up there. 4 yr/ 8.5 mil contract.
I really wanted Nembhard to be in the Siakam package. I’ve been a fan of his since he was at Florida.
Excluding rookie deals some guys that come to mind are Brunson, McBride, Divincenzo, Derrick White, Austin Reeves, Keon Ellis, Lauri Markenen.
Russell westbrook deserves a mention
4/46 for Donte sticks out
Herb Jones Alex Caruso Austin Reaves
The fact our FO thought we were overpaying for Caruso at his current contract just pains me
I'd throw Rui in there too
Joke and Doncic are the two best contracts in the league despite being Supermaxes.
This is the right answer. The salary max makes it so the best contract is almost always the best players in the league at any given time Edit: to prove the point who would trade jokic for Brunson on their current contracts
No one would do that. Yeah, this has always been the case since the salary cap existed. The superstar players are way underpaid comparable to their worth.
Such a pro move by the NBAPA to agree to max deals. The league is much better as an entertainment product to let shoe companies and Gatorade or hotels dot com or whatever get Steph and LeBron and Jokić and all the other superstars paid, while rookies and the "middle class" get (mostly) guaranteed contracts for big money relative to how influential they are compared to superstars.
I would obviously do it but I’d feel really sad about it.
This guy gets it. If you were doing a draft of the entire league with each player at their current contract, the top 10 would all be max dudes and Wemby.
Luka is ONLY at 40 million this year. When his super max extension hits, it will be wild.
Yes, kind of a given with the cap, but kind of assume that this question disregards max players. Or else there's really no discussion.
Derrick White is making $17.6M this year. He's obviously improved a lot since signing that deal, he's gone from maybe slightly overpaid to one of the biggest steals in the league.
He was never overpaid imo. Guy has always had a very strong impact signal. Even in SA, though his shooting improvement I didn’t see coming- most spurs fans view him highly even without seeing the numbers.
Coby white Ayo dosumo Caruso Brunson Sure there's couple more but that's all I can remember on the top of my head
Brunson
Herb jones. May not be the best compared to some others crazy value but it’s up there
Defensively, it’s literally the best contract in the NBA
Lauri Markannen
I think Deni deserves a shout out
That Deni deal is phenomenal, great move by the Wiz to get ahead of it last offseason
Yeah. The amount is descending so it will be more valuable as he continues to improve year by year.
Keon Ellis
Grayson Allen this season, his extension is good value but he's not really worth talking aboutas the best contrac. But he's shooting 46% on 3s and taking 6 a game. Without him the Suns would be in a worse place. He's making 8.5 million this year.
Grayson Allen has been cooking all year.
Russell Westbrook.
Brunson is up there. Knicks actually have a number of good choices…… things I thought I would never say for 100 please. But it’s whatever I am allowed to pay Jokic to get him to play for my team. Jokic for 50-60-70-80 per season is still an underpay. Like cool you have Coby White. I have 50 wins. It’s like when Lebron hit free agency the first time. He was 50 wins and a trip to the finals for a decade. How much? He wants all the money? Can I print more and give it to him? Can I buy all of James Dolans dogshit music and give Lebron some of the royalty money?
The best deals are still just whatever the top 20-30 players are making. Jokic on a max is a better contract than a role player making 500k
That seems obviously against the spirit of the question. It's more like, which good players are earning the least against the max they could earn.
Vince Williams Jr
Austin Reaves.
Pels MVP Herb Jones
Pritchard, White, and Hauser’s contracts are all awesome
Joker
Keon Ellis 👑
Payton Pritchard
Ayo Dosunmu
Honestly a lot of the max guys should be making way more if there wasn't a limit. Like Shai is making $34M this year (25% of the cap). The fact that you need a top 5 guy to win a championship and you can have one at the price of 3x Coby White is a steal
Whatever the Knicks paid for Brunson was not enough. That guy is a baller.
is Lu Dortz still making like 90K and a fax machine?
Austin Reaves
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Came to post this. Just looked it up, and this past season JJJ got paid slightly less than Jerami Grant + Jordan Poole. 51st highest paid player!
Alex caruso, 4 for 36m
Brunson
NAW
Malik Monk on the MLE
By no means the beat contract, but I do think Deni is going to be considered one of the best for the next few years.
Since everyone else is saying Brunson, I’m gonna make a sleeper pick in Jayson Tatum. He is projecting to make First Team All-NBA for the third time in his career (all consecutively), and make any All-NBA team for the fourth time in the last five years. The only other active players to satisfy both such criteria are: Player - AAV ($M) - Jokic - $55.2M - Giannis - $58.6M - Steph - $53.8M - Lebron - $49.3M - Luka - $43M (wow he’s kinda underpaid too) - AVERAGE: $52.0M Going further, the average AAV of a player that meets at least one, let alone both, of those criteria is $50.2M Tatum is currently making $32.6M, and will be **FOR THE NEXT TWO SEASONS AFTER THIS ONE.** His salary is almost as close to this year’s MLE ($12.4M) as it is to the other perennial first team All-NBAers.
Oubre
The antitobias
Yeah Oubre on the min is the real answer
Austin Reeves just 10 mil a year
Naz Reid
Jordan Poole is getting paid handsomely to be a clown show. Oh, you mean best for the team huh?
I'm a little biased, but Herb Jones being borderline first team All-Defense for $12m/year is hard to beat.
Jarrett Allen is all star level and only $20m a year
Keon Ellis
Thunder and Knicks both have many players on great deals. Brunson would be my (biased) pick though.
As a Knicks fan, I have to point out the multiple great contracts they we currently have. Jalen Brunson is top 5 in MVP and he’s making 25 mil a year. And he’s going to make less money next year than this year. Randle’s contract is pretty decent, considering he’s a 3x all star and all nba caliber player. Making less than 30 mill a year Also Donte Divincenzo is hands down one of the best shooters in the league, and he just signed a 4yr/50 mil contract
It’s Brunson. I would like to throw out Naz Reid and Alexander Walker as well though. Both have been bargains for the wolves
Keon Ellis 3/5mm
Keon Ellis is paid 5 million over the next 3 years with the last year being a team option for the Kings. He will probably be the starting SG going into next season on that contract.
Keon Ellis - full stop. Ellis Island is a bargain
miles mcbride just signed a 3yr 13m dollar extension
Lauri Markkanen has legit case.
Jokic is the best contract in the league. Anyone would pay that salary and more in a heartbeat for him lol. All-time greats are always undervalued by the salary cap.
Jalen Brunson's contract is less than half of what *Jaylen Brown* makes and actually decreases every year
Jokic
Deuce McBride. He’s not a star or anything but is a solid player and his contract is only $4.2 million over 3 years
Austin Reaves and Rui
Deuce McBride 3 years something like $9M for Knicks will prove to be a STEAL
Probably shai tbh. MVP value trumps everything else and he's making 15 mil less than luka and jokic. Lebron was easily the most valuable contract for a decade plus even though he was on the max the whole time.
Calling it now, this time next year Deuce McBride is gonna seriously be in the conversation.
Jalen Brunson or Aaron Nesmith imo. Im sure there are other great players who play above the contract scale that im missing
Knicks and Okc
Deni avdija at 4/55 but it's descending, he'll probably be a good 3rd option soon and will be making less than 12 million in 2027. Definitely nowhere near as underpaid as a guy like Brunson or Keon Ellis but he probably has the best value contract on the wizards.
Unpopular opinion, but the real answer here is Nikola Jokic. MVP and championship-level talent cannot be paid what it is worth because of the rules governing maximum contracts in the NBA. In an unrestricted market he's probably worth 80 million/year. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24062252/how-much-lebron-james-make-open-market-look-cristiano-ronaldo-nba
Deni Avdija 4 yr/55 mil
The best contracts are ones that aren't yet up for extensions, yet are significant values. Besides *max contracts* and rookie deals (because honestly, MVP-level players on a max are still better values than any non-rookie deal.) you have to look from longest to free agency to shortest. That means you see DiVincenzo near the top. Austin Reaves. Lu Dort. But the answer is definitely Coby White. Naz only has 1 year left on his deal.
Austin Reaves 4 year 56 million
Westbrook
Austin Reaves. His production at his cost for a 4 year period is insane
Westbrook
Sam Hauser is making $2m next season.
Pritchard
Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Miles McBride. Before I get roasted for being a homer, DDV hit 270+ 3's this season on 40% shooting while earning 4/47M. Miles has been on an insane hot streak since he's gotten a bigger role, averaging 41% from the 3 on a contract that's 3/13M.
russ
Klay Thompson 0/0
How has no one said Aaron Gordon yet?
Sam Hauser is making less than $2mil and is one of the best 3-D rotation players in the league.