The San Antonio Spurs and De’Aaron Fox agreed to a four-year, $229 million extension earlier this week that will pay the point guard an average of $57.25 million per season. With a year one salary of $51 million, Fox projects as the 17th highest-paid player in the NBA when his deal kicks in for the 26-27 season. For context, Fox will be making a smidge more than Luka Doncic, who also extended earlier this month.
The Spurs acquired Fox from the Sacramento Kings in a three-team deal just before the trade deadline. San Antonio sought to pair him with franchise player Victor Wembanyama, but the duo only played five games together before Wemby suffered a season-ending blood clot in his shoulder. The Spurs were reportedly the only team Fox wanted to play for as he pushed his way out of Sacramento. It’s easy to wonder if the Spurs had a handshake agreement with Fox on this extension once the trade went through.
San Antonio found itself in the lottery after Wembanyama’s injury, and they jumped all the way up to No. 2 in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery. They used the pick to select point guard Dylan Harper out of Rutgers, a player whose skill set overlaps with Fox’s a bit as an on-ball guard known for his driving. It was easy to wonder if the Spurs would try to either trade Fox or squeeze him on his extension after lottery luck landed them a younger, cheaper player with even more upside at his position. Instead, the Spurs paid Fox the max contract he wanted.
Fox is a very good player, but there’s a big gap between what he’s accomplished and the other players in his salary range. The 27-year-old has only been an NBA All-Star once, back in 2023, when he also made Third-Team All-NBA. He only has one playoff appearance in his career, but such is life when you’re drafted by the Kings, a team with one playoff appearance since 2006. The Ringer ranks Fox as the NBA’s 26th best player, which feels like the high-end of where he could be ranked. Hoops Hype has Fox ranked as the No. 9 point guard for next season.
I’d rank Fox somewhere in the 30s of the best players in the league. He has talent to perform better than that, as he did in 2023, but his offensive process is often flawed despite his brilliant speed as a ball handler. His fit in the San Antonio backcourt is also a bit of a question: Fox, Harper, and Stephon Castle are all shaky three-point shooters. Is that really the best way to build around Wembanyama? The Spurs decided to pay Fox now and figure out the rest later. Just making the playoffs would be a nice accomplishment for San Antonio this season.
Fox is a very good player, obviously, but he does feel overpaid on this new deal. The Spurs will be just fine: Peter Holt bought the team for $75 million in the late ‘90s, and could probably sell them for $3-5 billion right now. That might be underestimating it with Wembanyama on the team. Fox’s deal got us thinking about the “worst” contracts in the NBA aka the least team-friendly deals.
Let me be clear: all these players deserve their money, because every owner in the league could turn a massive profit selling their franchise right now. Still, in the “second apron era,” it’s wise for teams to avoid stacking max salaries, especially if those players are closer to All-Stars than superstars. Here’s our list heading into the ‘25-26 campaign.
Too injured to return value
Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers
Remaining money: 4 years, $243 million
Embiid was playing like the best player in the NBA until he went down with a knee injury Jan. 2024. The big man hasn’t been the same since, and only played 19 games this past season as he tried and failed to get healthy. Embiid turns 32 in March, and has dealt with back, foot, and knee injuries since he entered the league. The Sixers should be competing for championships right now with Embiid in his prime, but instead his body is already breaking down before he’s ever put together a signature playoff run. If he can’t get on the floor and get back to something close to his peak level, Embiid is suddenly looking like the worst contract in the NBA.
Paul George, F, Philadelphia 76ers
Remaining money: 3 years, $162.2 million
The Sixers signed George to a four-year max deal in free agency a year ago, but he only played 41 games as he was limited by groin, knee, and finger injuries. He had another arthroscopic procedure on his left knee this summer, and at 35 years old, he now feels closer every day to going full-time as a podcaster. George’s defense, shooting, and slashing has always made him a player who can contribute to winning in a variety of roles, but like Embiid, his body started betraying him right when he signed with the Sixers. Philly is lucky they have young studs like Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, and VJ Edgecombe, because it’s very hard to count on their two highly-paid veterans.
Veterans who can’t live up to their paycheck
Jerami Grant, F, Portland Trail Blazers
Remaining money: 3 years, $102.6 million
The Blazers’ decision to sign Grant to a massive extension and then immediately trade Damian Lillard never made any sense. It has aged even worse a couple years into the deal. Despite being an athletic 6’8 forward, Grant finished just 43.8 percent of his rim attempts last year, which ranked as the 1st percentile of the league. That’s very bad. He also doesn’t impact the game as a rebounder these days, and he’s never been much of a playmaker. Portland has a group of young forwards and bigs to build around with Deni Avdija, Donovan Clingan, Yang Hansen, and Toumani Camara, and Grant doesn’t fit in. No other team is going to take on that deal. It feels like he’ll be bought out eventually.
Dejounte Murray, G, New Orleans Pelicans
Remaining money: 3 years, $96.7 million
Maybe Murray should be in the first group after he suffered a season-ending Achilles tear last year. I just didn’t think Murray was worth his contact even when he was healthy. The 28-year-old guard has finished with below league-average scoring efficiency every year of his career, and he’s never even been that close to average. He’s a poor three-point shooter, and at this stage of his career, he’s a bit of an overrated defender. Trading for Murray sabotaged the Hawks until they found some salvation by dealing him to the Pelicans. Now New Orleans is stuck with him.
Zach LaVine, G, Sacramento Kings
Remaining money: 2 years, $96.4 million
LaVine was quietly awesome last season, leading the NBA in three-point percentage among qualified shooters at 44.6 percent from deep. He remains a talented rim finisher as well (67 percent within three-feet), and is one of the best in the league at combining high-volume scoring with efficiency. So why did no one want LaVine when the Bulls tried to give him away for free? LaVine is a poor defender, he’s never been a high-IQ decision-maker, and his injury history is scary. It would be fun to see what he could do on a good team playing off a real A1 star, but his contract pays him like he is an A1 star, and he’s never been able to carry his team to winning. LaVine is something of a sympathetic figure after spending his whole career on three hopeless franchises, but it makes sense that no one wants a flawed co-star paid like a superstar on their salary sheet.
Young players who can’t live up to their extensions
Jalen Green, G, Houston Rockets
Remaining money: 3 years, $105.3 million
The No. 2 overall pick in 2021, Green can score in bunches when he’s hot, but he’s rarely made a winning impact. His annual March scoring takeovers are fun to watch, but have never been sustainable, and it’s a big reason why the Rockets dumped him in the Kevin Durant trade. Green has talent, but overall he’s an inefficient shot-chucker who doesn’t play defense and doesn’t see the floor well as a passer. Even beyond the KD factor, losing Green feels like addition by subtraction for a Rockets team ready to push for a championship.
Patrick Williams, F, Chicago Bulls
Remaining money: 4 years, $72 million
The Bulls paid Williams a five-year, $90 million extension ahead of last season based on his perceived potential, not his production. As he returned from a foot injury, Williams turned in the worst season of his career as soon as he got paid, and now suddenly feels like an afterthought in Chicago’s rebuild. The forward was bricking open dunks at an obscene rate last season, which contributed to awful 46.4 percent rim finishing that ranked in the 1st percentile of the league. Williams showed defensive promise early in his career, but he wasn’t as effective on that end last season as his athleticism waned. He’s a career 39 percent shooter from three, but his shot is so slow he can’t get it off with volume. Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue could give the Bulls some hope for the future, but Williams already feels like an anchor on the cap sheet going forward.
Jordan Poole, G, New Orleans Pelicans
Remaining money: 2 years, $65.8 million
Poole played a winning role on the Warriors’ 2022 championship team, got paid, then got knocked out by Draymond Green at practice. It’s been all downhill since. Poole actually had a nice bounceback year with a horrible Wizards team last season, returning to form as a three-point shooter (37 percent from deep) while also getting to the foul line more. The Pelicans traded for him this offseason, then subsequently drafted another small guard in Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 overall pick. Poole and Fears just don’t seem like a complimentary duo in the backcourt to me, so it will be interesting to see how the usage gets divided there when Zion Williamson is also available. It feels like Poole’s next deal might pay him half as much as the current one does, at least in percentage of the salary cap. He’s a skilled scorer, but not someone who should be heavily counted on.
Remaining money: 4 years, $130 million
Quickley was one of the big pieces back in the OG Anunoby trade, but he hasn’t lived up to the rich new contract Toronto has given him so far. Quickley only played 33 games last year because of elbow and pelvis injuries, and he never looked like the instant offense lead guard they expected him to be. The Raptors badly need Quickley’s pull-up shooting and off-the-dribble playmaking this season. Getting him going could be the key to helping the Raptors emerge as a playoff team. This is just a lot of money for a player who has never proven he can produce in a high-usage role, and his first season in Toronto wasn’t exactly encouraging.
Great player, but that’s a lot of money
Devin Booker, G, Phoenix Suns
Remaining money: 5 years, $316 million
I respect the Suns for wanting to keep Booker around for his entire career, but they will be paying a ton of money to do so when they could have flipped him for a huge haul of assets this summer. Booker’s newly signed extension will pay him $72 million per year in his age-32 and age-33 seasons. Now firmly in his prime on the brink of his 29th birthday, Booker is more of a fringe top-20 player than a fringe top-10 player. He’s never been quite special enough as a shooter or playmaker to emerge as one of the league’s true superstars, but Phoenix will be paying him like one well into the future. The Suns have no margin for error when it comes to building around Booker long-term, and it will be fascinating to see if they can pull it off.
Jamal Murray, G, Denver Nuggets
Remaining money: 4 years, $207.8 million
Murray is more important to the league’s championship picture than almost any other player in the NBA. Is Murray still good enough to be the second-best player on a championship team? That’s the big question for a player who has still never been an All-Star, and already seems to be declining a bit physically. Murray had a rough stretch in the 2024 playoffs, and he was more solid than spectacular in Denver’s 2025 postseason run. The Nuggets desperately need him to perform like the big shot playoff hero he’s been in the past, and that requires him to be in tip-top shape. The Nuggets have more firepower around Jokic this year with Cameron Johnson leading a foursome of new additions, but this is only a championship contender if Murray is near his peak.
Jaylen Brown, F, Boston Celtics
Remaining money: 4 years, $236 million
Brown earned his money forever by winning 2024 NBA Finals MVP honors as the Celtics hung banner No. 18. The Celtics now need to build for the future after Jayson Tatum’s torn Achilles in the 2025 playoffs, and it will be fascinating to see if Brown is still in their long-term vision given his massive contract. Brown saw his scoring efficiency drop to below league-average levels last year, and his performance in defensive metrics slipped too. He’s coming off three straight All-Star seasons as one of the NBA’s best sidekicks, but he’s getting paid like a superstar during a time when the Celtics will need to rebuild most of their rotation once Tatum recovers. The Celtics got bailed out of Jrue Holiday’s extension by the Blazers, and they should find a market for Brown too if they ever decide to move him.
