5 Worst Contracts Handed Out in NBA History

NBA teams try and put the best possible collection of players on the court once the regular season starts, and that involves executing some well-planned transactions during the preceding summer.

But sometimes, the somewhat over-ambitious franchises hand out rather atrocious contracts leading to utterly disappointing return on investments. In retrospect, the signings that follow might lead to many scratching their heads in confusion but that's what happens when general managers and front offices don’t make smart choices.

In an effort to score big and land a player that might put them in a position to win the title next year, organisations end up bagging liabilities that hurt throughout the tenure of the contract offered.

Some of the most brutal contracts in the history of basketball's summer signings are the ones that took shape because of the player eventually getting injured, landing in some legal or personal problems and/or just simply being ridiculously overpaid.

Let us now look at some of the worst signings ever in the history of NBA and try to comprehend the silver lining in each one that might have actuated such disasters.

#5 Eddy Curry(New York Knicks): 6 Years, $60 Million

Eddy Curry is arguably one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history.

At the age of 22, Eddy was hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat, and doctors wondered whether he had a congenital heart condition. Even after refusing to get tested for this, the New York Knicks not only acquired him via a trade, but then signed him to a $60 million contract over six years.

Eddie was considered a talented player but that was it. He couldn’t rebound & block shots and was constantly out of shape.

In all fairness, Eddie Curry was incredibly solid for his first two-plus seasons in New York. In his defence, he started in 81 games and also led the team in scoring in 2006-07. But his conditioning deteriorated to the point where he only appeared in 10 games in his final three seasons with the Knicks(and was still able to make 19 million dollars).

Between his health issues, numerous public incidents involving his immaturity, constant battles with his weight, and Curry is one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history.

#5 Jerome James(New York Knicks) - 5 Years, $30 Million

Jerome was turning 30 when the Knicks signed him.

In the summer of 2005, after a career spent bouncing around various teams and countries, Knicks signed Jerome James for a total of 30 million dollars over 5 years.

Although this contract doesn’t sound like a lot of money for NBA contract standards, Jerome came into the deal averaging 5 points, 3.5 rebounds & 1.3 blocks.

Of course, Jerome posted averages of 12.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in 11 games in the 2005 NBA Playoffs, but that shouldn't have been enough to cover up his career averages. Nevertheless, this small scale of consistency was enough for Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas.

Eventually, James never played more than 45 games in a given season during his four years in New York. Also, he would never average more than three points per game after signing and he dealt with major injuries at the end of his contract.

He was out of shape and another big bust for NY Knicks free agency which seemed to be a trend for the Knicks over the years.

#3 Penny Hardaway(Phoenix Suns): 7 Years, $87 Million

Everybody knows about the domination Penny brought to the NBA from 1993 to 1997, averaging as high as 21.7 ppg in his third season with the Magic. But during the end of his time with the Orlando Magic, he started battling a bunch of knee problems, that didn't seem to matter Phoenix.

The Suns took a chance and offered him seven years worth of 87 Million dollars, which again, if fully healthy, Penny would have rightfully deserved. Not taking into consideration the injury risk that came with Hardaway, it all went downhill soon for the Suns & Penny.

Phoenix Suns signed him in 1999 and in just his second year with the franchise, he re-injured his knee and would never score more than 12 points a game in his career

Drawing parallels from the others in the list, Penny's injury concerns were apparent long before Phoenix made the hefty investment in the point guard.

#2 Jim Mcllvaine(Seattle Supersonics) - 7 Years, $34 Million

Jim's 2.1 blocks per game in the 1995-96 season heavily overshadowed his weak offensive abilities, as was evident from the contract Seattle offered him.

He was averaging less than 15 minutes per game in his first two seasons with Washington & had never averaged more than 2.3 points or 2.9 rebounds per game before signing the contract. Moreover, the 1994 second-round pick from Marquette had scored 10 or more points in a game just twice in the NBA and had yet to record a double-double.

To put things into perspective, Mcllvaine got a bigger contract than Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, and Shawn Kemp, who was one of the best, if not the best player on the SuperSonics.

He was the starting centre for the Sonics for 151 games during the next 2 season, averaging only as high as 3.8 points per game before being traded to New Jersey.

#1 Chandler Parsons(Memphis Grizzlies): 4 Years, $94 Million

When Memphis offered Chandler this outrageous deal, he had never appeared in an All-Star game and had never averaged more than 16.6 points per game in his career. On top of possessing average scoring abilities, he had also missed the end of both the 2015 and 2016 seasons due to knee surgeries.

Even if he had replicated what he had done for the previous four years, it would've been a bad contract, but what later transpired made it one of the worst contracts ever to be handed out in NBA history.

Owing to his continued knee issues, Parsons has appeared in just 70 games(34 & 36 respectively) over the last two seasons, averaging 6.2 & 7.9 points per game respectively and will turn 30 years old on October 25 of this year.

By handing this contract out, Grizzlies made Parsons the 15th-highest-paid player in the league for the 2016-17 season and if that wasn't enough they committed to increasing that salary by roughly $1 million per year over the subsequent three years.

Edited by Rohit Nath