Ranking LeBron James and the NBA's 6 best-value contracts

Thanks to the second apron, NBA teams are being more cautious with their spending than ever. The Boston Celtics just traded Jaylen Brown for a pittance of his perceived value because they no longer wanted to pay him 35 percent of the salary cap every year.

The second-apron restrictions are genuinely punishing to roster-building, so teams are largely treating that line as a de facto hard cap. That means they're paying more attention to each dollar spent and are making ruthless decisions for players whom they deem overpaid.

While that dynamic plays out, teams are also bargain hunting. The more value they can squeeze out of one contract, they more they might have left over for another.

On paper, no contract will be more valuable in 2026-27 than the two-year, $8 million deal that LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. In his age-41 season, he was still one of the top 25 players in the NBA. That value is not typically available on a minimum contract.

James was in a unique situation, though. Teams won't be able to sign one of the greatest players in NBA history on a minimum contract very often. That won't stop them from signing other steals, though.

Is James' new deal with the Sixers the best-value contract in the NBA? We divided each player's 2026-27 salary by the win shares they accrued in 2025-26 ($/WS) to figure that out.

The following six teams have screaming bargains on their hand for at least one more season.

6. Saddiq Bey, New Orleans Pelicans

$/WS: $1,192,718

When the Pelicans traded CJ McCollum to the Washington Wizards, Jordan Poole was the headliner of the return package, while Saddiq Bey looked like a throw-in. After all, Bey missed the entire 2024-25 season to recover from an ACL injury and shot only 40.8 percent from the field in the first four years of his NBA career.

Last year, Bey quickly supplanted Poole as the headliner of that deal. He averaged a career-high 17.7 points per game on a career-best 45.1 percent shooting, while Poole chipped in only 13.4 points per game off the bench while shooting a horrific 37.2 percent from the field.

The Wizards initially signed Bey to his three-year, $19 million contract using part of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception in 2024 even though he figured to miss most if not all of the 2024-25 campaign. He played his high school ball at the nearby DeMatha Catholic in Maryland, and his anticipated absence might have been a feature for the rebuilding Wizards, not a bug.

As it turned out, Bey was the sweetener who helped the Wizards land McCollum, whom they'd later flip in their trade for Trae Young. Meanwhile, Bey now looks like he could be a piece of the long-term puzzle in New Orleans, although he's due for a hefty raise next summer.

5. Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks

$/WS: $1,176,471

Heading into last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly had his doubts about the Milwaukee Bucks' ability to build a championship contender around him. Ryan Rollins did everything in his power to make him reconsider that.

In 2024-25, Rollins averaged 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 14.6 minutes per game. When the Bucks signed him to a three-year, $12 million contract during the 2025 offseason, it wasn't seen as a needle-mover by any means. But as it turns out, it was one of the best-value signings of the summer.

This past season, Rollins set career highs across the board with 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 made threes and 1.5 steals in 32.1 minutes per game. He finished second on the Bucks in win shares, trailing only Antetokounmpo, and was tied for second in value over replacement player.

It's unclear how Rollins will fit into the Bucks' new-look backcourt, as he'll now be competing for touches with Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakučionis and No. 10 overall pick Brayden Burries along with the returning Kevin Porter Jr. and AJ Green. One thing is clear, though: He's a virtual lock to decline his $4.0 million player option for the 2027-28 in pursuit of a hefty raise.

4. Vit Krejčí, Portland Trail Blazers

$/WS: $919,981

After bouncing around the NBA for his first few seasons, Vit Krejčí signed a two-way contract with the Atlanta Hawks in December 2023. He averaged 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 made threes in 24.6 minutes per game across his 22 appearances that season.

That convinced the Hawks to sign him to a partially guaranteed four-year, $10 million deal the following summer, which wound up being a grand slam for them.

In 2024-25, Krejčí chipped in 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 threes in 20.2 minutes per game across 57 games (including 16 starts). He also shot 41.2 percent from deep in 2023-24 and 43.7 percent in 2024-25, making him one of the NBA's best long-range marksmen, albeit on relatively low volume (3.5 attempts per game).

Krejčí's shooting percentages dropped a bit this past season, mostly after his trade to the Portland Trail Blazers in February. A full offseason and training camp with the Blazers could help him bounce back efficiency-wise this year.

Either way, he's going to provide far more than minimum-contract value if the past few seasons are any indication.

3. Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics

$/WS: $913,866

The Celtics effectively decided to move on from Brown because they no longer thought he was worth his salary, and they weren't interested in giving him an extension at that same rate. They'd have a tough time making that same case about Payton Pritchard.

Pritchard signed a four-year, $30 million extension with the Celtics ahead of his fourth NBA season in October 2023. Over his first three seasons, he averaged 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in only 15.7 minutes per game. That seemed like a completely reasonable rate—if not an overpay—for a reliable bench player.

Two years after Pritchard signed that extension, he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. This past season, he set career highs in points (17.0), assists (5.2), rebounds (3.9) and minutes per game (32.4). After starting in only 17 games across his first five seasons, Pritchard started 50 for the 56-win, mostly Jayson Tatum-less Celtics.

Unbelievably, Pritchard is only going into the third year of that deal. He's earning $7.8 million in 2026-27 and $8.3 million in 2027-28. That's less than 5 percent of the salary cap in both seasons.

Pritchard's salary is so small that the Celtics have zero chance of extending him before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2028. The Los Angeles Lakers ran into the same problem with Austin Reaves, but that didn't prevent them from re-signing him. The Celtics have Pritchard's Bird rights, so they can offer him one more year and more money than any other team in free agency.

But that's a problem for another day. For the Celtics, who are presumably hoping to stay under the luxury tax for the second straight year to reset the clock on their repeater tax, a bargain contract like Pritchard's is a godsend.

2. LeBron James, Philadelphia 76ers

$/WS: $717,876

This is one of those times where metrics fall short.

By any subjective measure, signing LeBron James—who is no worse than the second-best player in NBA history—to a veteran-minimum contract is one of the biggest steals ever. However, LeBron finished with only 5.4 win shares last season, the fewest since his rookie campaign. That put him in a tie with Saddiq Bey for 69th in the league.

That's still far more production than you'd expect from someone on a minimum contract. But that's also why one other player surpassed him from a value standpoint in these rankings. He would have needed to rack up at least 6.5 win shares—which he did in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons—to top this list.

The Sixers would certainly beg to differ that anyone in the NBA is a better value than James. After all, in his age-41 season, he still managed to average 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. Those are great numbers for anyone, much less a 41-year-old on a minimum deal.

Since LeBron will be surrounded by Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia, he likely won't have to put up huge numbers this coming season. He has plenty of supporting talent to help carry some of the offensive load. In other words, he might not top these rankings next year, either.

Getting him on a minimum deal is still beyond a heist for the Sixers, though.

1. Ajay Mitchell, OKC Thunder

$/WS: $593,750

The only explanation for Ajay Mitchell's contract is that Sam Presti is a warlock.

As a rookie, Mitchell averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 16.6 minutes per game across 36 appearances. The Thunder originally signed him to a two-way contract, but they tore that up in February 2025 and replaced it with a two-year, $6 million deal with a second-year team option. OKC declined that option this past summer and re-signed Mitchell to a three-year, $8.7 million deal with a third-year team option.

This past season, Mitchell averaged 13.6 points, 3.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game across 57 appearances (16 starts). He finished fifth in the Sixth Man of the Year race and looked to be taking another leap in the playoffs before a calf strain felled him in the second round.

Mitchell is set to earn $2.85 million in 2026-27, and the Thunder have a $2.85 million team option on him in 2027-28. For context, the cap hit for a one-year, veteran-minimum contract for anyone with two or more years of NBA experience this season is roughly $2.45 million. Mitchell is set to earn roughly $400,000 more than that.

The Thunder did have to start trimming down their roster this offseason with Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams' max extensions kicking in. They'll miss Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, but having an impactful rotation player like Mitchell on a near-minimum contract helps soften the blow.

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