Written by Taylor Odenat
With the salary cap steadily increasing over the next few years, NBA teams have seemingly been throwing money at players this offseason. The two may not correlate, but with the amount of free agents that have been given 4 or 5 year deals for an outstanding amount of money; it appears to be the only plausible explanation. Players that one would never imagine to receive more than a few million dollars per year, are being given $80 million over several years. Last offseason, Chandler Parsons signed with the Dallas Mavericks and was paid $14.7 million. Even though this was only a season ago, fans and players gasped at the amount of money the previously most underpaid player in the league was collecting. However, this offseason everyone is signing contracts to be paid Chandler Parson’s money and no one is even blinking an eye. Maybe these players will live up to their outlandish contracts, but for some that may not seem possible.
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DeMarre Carroll is a prime example of someone who may not live up to the considerable sum of money they will be obtaining from their team. Once a role player for the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, Carroll has recently agreed to a 4-year, $60 million deal that will give him $15 million per year. While credit should be given to Carroll for displaying this past regular and post-season that he is a quality forward in this league, he was a product of the system. Once taken out of the element of the effective system, he will drop off in productivity and therefore become not worth the amount of money Toronto will still have to pay him.
Lance Stephenson is a recent example of a player that left his good situation for the money on a different team believing he’d still be effective. After once being the spark, heart, and soul of the 2013-2014 Indiana Pacers, Stephenson signed a contract with the Charlotte Hornets during the 2014 offseason. He would show to definitely be the product of a system and he wouldn’t perform nearly as well as his contract expected him to. His shooting was awry, his decisions were questionable, and he just didn't provide the Hornets with a starter that would push them into playoff contention in the East.
DeMarre Carroll could be next Stephenson in that he will arrive to his new team and prove he is not of the same value as he previously advertised. The Atlanta Hawks floor spacing, no dominating superstar system allowed Carroll to flourish. However, the Toronto Raptors are just not that team and Carroll will not be the same player because of his ability to flourish in a certain scheme; not the ability to be a superstar like his contract suggests.
There were other signings that made just made NBA fans scratch their heads. Carroll performed well in the Atlanta Hawks offensive structure so teams believed he was worth a big contract, however other players were mediocre during the 2014-2015 regular season and are being paid strikingly. For example, the Boston Celtics and Amir Johnson have come to an agreement of a 2 year/$24 million deal. A man who averaged 9.3 ppg and 6.1 rpg will be getting paid to come off the bench behind Jared Sullinger, assuming he isn’t on his way out, in Boston. Amir Johnson is a high energy forward who will provide them with rebounding and effort. However, $12 million is overpaying Johnson for the limited skills he brings to the table. One would believe that Boston would learn from their mistakes to make deals to overpay players after acquiring Gerald Wallace via trade, however they obviously haven’t learned their lesson. Secondly, Omer Asik will also be receiving $12 million a year for five years to remain in New Orleans. While this does make for suffocating defense in the paint for NOLA, this just isn't the direction the NBA is going in. The Pelicans have overpaid for a center that will eventually become useless due to the small lineups that will continue to develop around the NBA. Omer Asik won’t able to keep up with fast 4’s on the perimeter and will not prove to be equivalent to his contract. He’ll give Anthony Davis the opportunity to focus more on offense instead of rebounding, but overpaying Asik over starting Ryan Anderson and joining the small ball direction of the NBA was nonsensical.
Is the NBA entering a previous time where people such as Gilbert Arenas are paid $18.5 million a year to not even play for their team? That seems the road that the NBA is going down with all these long contracts and overpaying players, and it won’t stop until a team begins to realize their mistakes. But with the new salary cap that approaching, that realization may never occur and bench warmers such as Aron Baynes will be paid almost $7 million a year to give limited production and possibly not even rise off the bench.
All statistics came from Basketball Reference unless stated otherwise.
