To be considered overpaid in the NBA, there are a few things that need to be true at the same time. First, let me be clear about the term overpaid itself. Just because we have classified somebody as overpaid does not mean they are a bad basketball player. It just means they are being paid like a much better basketball player than the one who has been on the court for the past few seasons.
One thing that needs to be true is that an overpaid player needs to have earned a massive contract that is still paying them through the 2023-24 season without being renegotiated. Nobody can fault any player for taking a massive payday at any point in their careers, even if the contract hasn’t worked out well for the team handing out that deal. Just as we did for the most overpaid players in the last 20 years, we will now be focusing on just the players with massive deals for the 2023-24 season.
With the amount of money being thrown at players nowadays, players are far more likely to be thrown into the overpaid category rather than being considered undervalued. Mistakes can be made when players are paid based on potential rather than what they have proved to be true on the court already, but that is the business of the NBA.
Without any further ado, these are the 10 most overpaid players for the 2023-24 NBA season.
10. Mike Conley – $24,360,000
Mike Conley Jr. is a savvy veteran point guard whose All-Defensive play and leadership once warranted a massive payday. Heading into his 16th season, Conley will be the 50th-highest-paid player in the NBA, outearning the likes of Domantas Sabonis, Aaron Gordon, and Mikal Bridges during the 2023-24 season.
In 2021, Conley signed a three-year, $68 million deal with the Jazz before being traded to Minnesota during the 2022-23 season. Now, on the backend of that contract, Conley heads into 2023-24 set to earn just north of $24 million. In 24 games with the Timberwolves last season, Conley averaged 14.0 PPG, 5.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG and helped them push for a playoff spot to end the season.
Conley will be turning 36 before the 2023-24 season begins, making him one of the highest-earning players over 35 in the entire NBA. Conley will have a lot to prove in order to change my mind about being ranked in the top 10 for overpaid players. After all, this isn’t Grit and Grind Mike Conley we are talking about.
9. John Collins – $25,340,000
There was a time when the hype and demand around a player like John Collins completely warranted a $25 million salary per season. The 2023-24 season will be the second season in which his massive extension takes place with a bump in pay from $23 million in 2022-23 to just over $25 million in 2023-24.
Collins has been on a downward trend over the last two seasons, although he has improved slightly on the defensive end of the ball. In 71 games in 2022-23, Collins averaged just 13.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG, which was his lowest scoring output since his rookie year and the lowest rebounding effort of his career. That doesn’t look good for a player set to see an increase in salary over the next few seasons.
The bright side is that Collins will be 26 years old when the season starts and not 26 like Conley. It will be the prime of his career athletically, so maybe he can tap into the potential that so many have seen from him in the past. The Atlanta Hawks sure hope he does. They have held onto him despite some rumored deals that could have improved their team and if he trends downward any further, his trade value may dip as well.
8. Jordan Poole – $28,705,357
Jordan Poole will get a fresh start with the Washington Wizards in 2023-24 after being dealt by the Golden State Warriors this offseason in exchange for Chris Paul. Other than the obvious reasons pertaining to his rift with former teammate Draymond Green, Poole was exiled from the Warriors just one year after signing a four-year, $140 million extension. Poole is set to make over $28.7 million in 2023-24 and over $30 million each of the following two seasons.
This is definitely an overpay for a player who, yes, had a great 2022 playoffs and helped the Warriors win an NBA championship but took a large step back in 2022-23. Don’t get me wrong, Poole was good in the regular season averaging 20.4 PPG but shot 43.0% from the field and 33.6% from three. He also fell apart in the NBA playoffs averaging just 10.3 PPG in 13 games played, shooting 25.4% from three.
Poole is one of the players that could really make me eat my words by the end of the 2023-24 season, especially with a new start in a new city. In order to get off this list, though, he will have to earn it and show me I am wrong before I move him.
7. Kyle Lowry – $29,682,540
Next up on this list is another veteran point guard on the backend of his deal, making an issue for his team and their financial plans. Back in 2021, Lowry signed a three-year, $85 million contract with the Miami Heat. The 2023-24 season will be the final year of that deal and a year that Lowry will earn just under $30 million, making him the 42nd-highest-paid player in the NBA.
In 2022-23, at 36 years old, Lowry averaged 11.2 PPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.0 SPG in just 55 games for Miami. He helped them reach the NBA Finals as well, with decent play of 9.2 PPG and 4.4 APG. Of course, there were times when he looked slow and like age had finally caught up to him, and at other times, he turned back the clock to help his team get the win.
Lowry has played less than 65 games in each of his last two seasons with the Heat and for a team looking to get over the championship hump and sign Damian Lillard, one of their priorities has to be shedding Lowry’s near $30 million salary. Unfortunately, there aren’t many teams in need of a 37-year-old point guard on the last legs of his career with a price tag that high. Overpaid is a justified term in 2023-24 for Lowry.
6. CJ McCollum – $35,802,469
As it stands right now, CJ McCollum will make just over $35.8 million in 2023-24 making him the 25th-highest-paid player in the NBA. While I love McCollum’s game and what he means to New Orleans, he will be earning more than guys like Jamal Murray, Ja Morant, Donovan Mitchell, and De’Aaron Fox in 2023-24, all players I believe to be a tier or more above him as far as what they bring to the table on the court.
McCollum played 75 games for New Orleans in 2022-23 and averaged a decent 20.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 5.7 APG, and 0.9 SPG as the Pelicans’ starting shooting guard. McCollum has been a borderline All-Star for most of his career yet has never been selected to a single All-Star Game or a single All-NBA Team. Making more than a few guys who made All-NBA First and Second Teams in 2022-23 means McCollum is being overpaid for his services.
5. Bradley Beal – $46,741,590
All eyes will be on Bradley Beal during the 2023-24 season as he joins Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Deandre Ayton in Phoenix after waiving his no-trade clause with the Wizards earlier this offseason. Beal will likely serve as the team’s starting point guard after Phoenix slashed its guard depth acquiring a ton of draft capital in the process.
Beal’s deal with the Wizards back in 2022 for five years and $251 million is one of the largest deals in NBA history and will make him the sixth-highest-paid player in the NBA this season. If this was the Bradley Beal of 2020-21, I would say he has earned the $46.75 million he is set to make in 2023-24. However, in the two years since his last All-Star appearance, Beal has played 50 or fewer games in both seasons averaging 23.2 PPG on 48.0% shooting.
For now, Beal sits in the realm of being one of the most overpaid players in the NBA. That could all change if he proves to be the piece that separates the Suns from another run to the Western Conference Finals. The Suns are paying a ton of money for their core four players and it better pay off, or more than one player from their lineup could find their way onto next season’s most overpaid players list.
4. Rudy Gobert – $41,000,000
There was a time that what Rudy Gobert provided to a team was worth every penny of a $40 million-plus annual salary. Gobert is a former Defensive Player of the Year and NBA All-Star whose interior defense won and lost games for his team. However, his $41 million in 2023-24 makes him the 13th-highest-paid player in the NBA and second-highest-paid center in the NBA next season and both are absolutely ludicrous.
Gobert’s addition to the Timberwolves and their core of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns was supposed to be league-altering and have Minnesota contending for a championship. Instead, the first year of the experiment was a failure that resulted in a first-round exit from the playoffs once again. In his first season with the Timberwolves, Gobert averaged his lowest PPG of 13.4 since 2016 and his lowest RPG of 11.6 since 2018. He also recorded less than 2.0 BPG for the first time since his rookie season in 2014.
All I know is that for $41 million, Gobert better start playing like a top-five center in the game and provide much more on the offensive side of the ball. The days of interior defense being the most valuable skill in basketball are long gone.
3. Tobias Harris – $39,270,150
Yes, we are still talking about that same Tobias Harris deal in 2023. Harris signed a massive five-year, $180 million deal back in 2019 as the Sixers decided to go forth with Harris instead of paying Jimmy Butler, a move that Sixers fans and ownership will not soon forget.
Tobias Harris showed a ton of potential leading up to the deal as a 19.0 PPG scorer and reliable defender. He has shown anything but over the last two seasons. Despite playing 74 games in 2022-23, Harris dipped to a 14.7 PPG and 5.7 RPG output for the Sixers as they fell in the second round of the playoffs for what feels like the infinite straight season.
Harris is good, there is no denying that. I would take him over plenty of forwards in today’s NBA. However, he is being paid nearly $40 million, a sum that only 17 other players will reach salary-wise in 2023-24. In my opinion, the Sixers need to continue to try and move off this deal any way they can, even if it means taking a step back in talent on their return. Harris could shock me and earn his way off this list, but at this point, he is what he is and I doubt it gets much better as he moves past 30 years old.
2. Gordon Hayward – $31,500,000
Gordon Hayward’s four-year, $120 million deal is still one of the worst contracts signed over the last two decades in the NBA. Hayward signed the deal as part of a sign-and-trade back in 2020 that landed him in Charlotte with the Hornets. Since signing the deal, it has been one thing after another with Hayward and he continues to fail to live up to one of the heftiest contracts in the NBA.
Hayward has yet to play more than 50 games in a season with the Hornets and has played less than 50 games in a season twice. In fact, Hayward has not played more than 53 games in a season since 2018-19, when he came off the bench for Boston and appeared in 72 games. It would be a different story if his play actually improved while he was healthy but the injuries have clearly begun to take hold of his shape on the court as well. In 2022-23, he averaged just 14.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 4.1 APG in 50 games for the Hornets as they missed the playoffs.
The best part of this deal is that 2023-24 will be the final season of it for the Hornets as it has completely crippled them in making any big moves over the last four years. Well, other than inking LaMelo Ball to a nice extension and Terry Rozier to a decent contract. With Hayward coming off the books for 2024-25, expect the Hornets to be active in a very loaded 2024 free-agency class.
1. Ben Simmons – $37,893,408
I hate to break it to those people who still believe in Ben Simmons, but he is easily the most overpaid player in the NBA right now. It is hard to believe we are just two years removed from an All-Star and All-Defensive Team season from Simmons, but in those two years, nobody’s value has taken a bigger hit than Simmons.
Under his current contract, Simmons is set to make nearly $38 million in 2023-24 and over $40 million in 2024-25. That is a ton of money for a player who has been battling mental issues and injury problems while playing just 42 games in two years. After an All-Star campaign in 2021, Simmons completely fell apart in the NBA playoffs, which got the ball rolling on a completely missed 2022 season and only half of the games played in 2022-23.
In order to start actually earning his massive salary, the Brooklyn Nets need Simmons to step up and take a bigger role for the team on the court. Unfortunately for them, we have never seen decent leadership qualities from Simmons that shows he can be that leader. If he can even reach All-Defensive levels again, that would be a start for him, but in order to do that, the nerve issue in his back needs to hold up and he will have to work through his problems to stay on the court. If he can’t, he will be the most overpaid player for 2024-25 in a year when I write this list again.
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