NBA Free Agency: 10 Worst Contracts Signed in the Summer of 2016
The summer of 2016 ushered in a steep rise in the NBA salary cap. This opened up a combined $1.107 billion in cap space for all these teams. The rise in the luxury tax line from $84 million to $113 million allowed a lot of teams to pursue big-name free agents, and the Warriors were definitely the biggest beneficiaries of this.
They used up this extra cap space to sign Kevin Durant to a three-year, $85-million deal. This has led to them dominating the playoffs like the best dynasties in league history - in the 2017 and 2018 playoffs combined, they have a 32-6 record.
Many other teams, however, squandered this newly acquired cap room, tying players up to some outrageously bad deals.
As a result, the rebuilding process for a couple of franchises has been severely constricted in the past two years, while many have just been unable to improve their roster due to the vagaries of a luxury tax.
Let's take a look at the 10 worst contracts in the NBA currently, all signed in the summer of 2016:
#10 Evan Turner
After a solid 2015-16 season, he cashed in on the Blazers' desperation to keep the band together. While Turner has always been a solid role player with a place in the league because of his defensive versatility and capability, he was given a contract far exceeding his current production. It almost felt like the Blazers were anticipating a leap in his production despite him finishing his sixth season in the league.
Instead, he has been just about the same player. His points per game average took a severe hit in the 2017-18 season.
He's always been a bad jumpshooter, but now those issues in his gameplay have magnified under the microscope because of the albatross neck contract that the Blazers are left with.
Turner signed a four-year, $70 million contract in 2016, but is playing worse than many players currently on veteran's minimum contracts.