Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Our ranking of the NBA's worst contracts entering the 2026 offseason includes several high-profile names and risky bets.
- Multiple deals stand out for poor fit, declining performance, or unsustainable cap hits on teams with limited flexibility.
- The top spot on the list belongs to a player whose recent megadeal has franchise executives already regretting their optimism.
From the minute the Washington Wizards acquired Trae Young back in January, everyone assumed that a new long-term deal would be coming this summer. Young had just a player option remaining on his current deal, and the Wiz clearly saw him as a central part of their future. The only question was just how big the number would be.
The answer, it turns out: unfathomably big. On Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Young had agreed to a four-year, $212 million deal, not quite the max he was eligible for but pretty close to it. This isn't just a flyer on a talented player by a team with plenty of cap space. Washington has hitched its wagon to Young — which, given how things ended for him with the Atlanta Hawks (and given that he'll be 28 years old before the start of the 2026-27 season) feels awfully risky. Combine that with the fact that the Wizards appeared to have all the leverage here, and there's a chance this contract ends up as a colossal mistake.
But where does it rank among the worst contracts in the NBA right now? That's what we're here to find out, because lord knows there's some stiff competition.
Honorable mentions: G Devin Booker, Suns; G/F Christian Braun, Nuggets; F Jerami Grant, Blazers; C Myles Turner, Bucks
10. G Jalen Green, Phoenix Suns
- Contract details: Two years, $72.2 million ($36 million player option for 2027-28)
It was highly questionable when the Suns decided to include Green as part of the return in the Kevin Durant trade, and he did nothing to prove that wrong — or change his reputation — during his first year in Phoenix. He remains a wildly inefficient scorer and a subpar decision-maker, and that shiny draft pedigree is getting further and further into the rearview mirror. Plus, the player option means that he'll either clog the Suns' cap sheet for two years or finally put it all together just in time to cash in somewhere else.
9. G De'Aaron Fox, San Antonio Spurs
- Contract details: Four years, $221.76 million
The NBA playoffs are a cruel business. Just a few weeks ago, I'm not sure anyone would've had Fox even on the long list here. But his ice-cold shooting — not to mention his baffling decision-making — in the Finals loss to the New York Knicks raised serious questions about whether he could be the adult table-setter the Spurs were hoping for.
It's always possible that the ankle issue Fox played through in the postseason hampered him more than he was willing to let on. He was by and large very good for San Antonio during the regular season, and Stephon Castle collapsed amid a pile of turnovers when asked to be the primary initiator in Fox's absence. But San Antonio better hope Fox can rebuild his trade value with a strong 2026-27 season, because his contract could be an albatross given all the other deals this team has coming down the pipe, and Dylan Harper is only trending upward.
8. G Dejounte Murray, New Orleans Pelicans
- Contract details: Two years, $63.5 million ($30.75 million player option for 2027-28)
Remember when this contract looked like a bargain for one of the best young two-way guards in the league? That feels like a lifetime ago: Murray wilted under the pressure of being a primary ball-handler, taking his defense with it — and that was before he tore his Achilles last January.
He still can't shoot, and he can no longer hold up at the point of attack, and all of that makes it very hard for him to be a positive player. The fact that he's blocking point guard of the future Jeremiah Fears in New Orleans is just the cherry on top.
7. F/C Anthony Davis, Washington Wizards
- Contract details: Two years, $121.24 million ($62.78 million player option in 2027-28)
Spoiler alert: This won't be the last time a Wizard appears on this list! If you could guarantee a clean bill of health, and that Father Time wouldn't drive him off a cliff in his mid-30s, and that he'd finally embrace his offensive destiny as a roll man, you could make the argument for AD as something close to a max player. Of course, I'm skeptical of all three of those things, which makes supermax money for the next two years a very bitter pill to swallow.
6. C Jakob Poeltl, Toronto Raptors
- Contract details: Four years, $103.58 million
This was baffling the moment it was signed; Toronto still had two years left on the deal they'd already given Poeltl, then decided to extend him at a not-insignificant number despite having very little competition for his services. Poeltl was a perfectly fine player in his 20s, offensively limited but a legitimate defensive anchor that led to a high floor in the regular season. Now in his 30s, though, the defense has declined considerably, and the offense was so bad that he was a liability in the team's first-round loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Collin Murray-Boyles has already usurped him on the Raptors' depth chart, and there are still four years left.
5. F Patrick Williams, Chicago Bulls
- Contract details: Three years, $54 million ($18 million player option in 2028-29)
The number might not be as eye-popping as the other names on this list, but the process behind it was so bad — and Williams such a non-entity as a player at this point — that it's hard to put him any lower. The Bulls made a bet on pure potential, and Williams has failed to develop in really any aspect of his game since. It's tough to tell what he even does on the court most nights; so while $18 million a year isn't crippling in today's game, it's still a reminder of all the mistakes that have driven this franchise into a ditch.
4. C Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
- Contract details: Two years, $94.08 million
A subpar defender whose status as an offensive hub was based on brute force as much as anything else, Sabonis was always a risky bet as he aged into his 30s. Sure enough, he struggled for much of 2025-26, and while you can chalk that up to knee and back injuries, the latter is something that famously is known to linger. Sabonis needs the ball to access his skill set, and he's such a liability on the other end that you need a basically perfect ecosystem around him to make it all work. That's a tough needle to thread, and while he's hardly what's wrong with the Kings, no other contender would touch this deal with a 10-foot pole.
3. C Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
- Contract details: Three years, $188.24 million ($67.26 million player option in 2028-29)
If you removed contractual context, Embiid is absolutely the best player on this list. He was an All-NBA center when available, and he offered a reminder of just how high his peak can be in Philly's first-round upset of the Boston Celtics.
At this point, though, you don't need me to tell you how big the "but" is. It's impossible to imagine him staying healthy for multiple playoff series at this point, let alone the four required to finally deliver a championship to the Sixers. He's now 31, and he's making supermax money for the next three years, making it awfully difficult to build a team in his absence.
2. G Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
- Contract details: Two years, $87.05 million
Morant's entire value proposition revolves around his otherworldly athleticism getting him to the rim over and over again, so it's ... not a great sign that he's already declining in that area before he even hits his late 20s. Sure, Morant technically could regain his star status elsewhere; given the off-court concerns and the inability to stay healthy and impact the game the way he used to, though, how willing are you to bet on that outcome? Especially considering that doing so means giving Morant the keys to your entire offense. No wonder Memphis is having such a hard time getting off of this contract.
1. G Trae Young, Washington Wizards
- Contract details: Four years, $212 million
And yet, at least Morant only has two years left on his deal. The ink has barely dried on Young's, and it's hard to escape the feeling that this is going to be a disaster. To be clear, Young has shown more on the court in the recent past than Morant has; he remains a ridiculous passer and a viable offensive ecosystem unto himself. But those skills come with all sorts of red flags, from his declining efficiency as a scorer to his blatant disinterest in defending or playing off the ball, and now Washington is paying him more than $50 million a year into his age-31 season. Sure, the Wiz had the cap space to burn, but that will be less and less true as guys like Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr come up for extensions.
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