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To be considered overpaid in the NBA, the following things need to be at the same time. First, let me clarify the word “overpay” itself. Just because we classify someone as overpaid doesn’t mean they’re a bad basketball player. It just means they’re being paid like a much better basketball player than they’ve been on the court the past few seasons.
One thing that needs to be real is that an overpaid player needs to win a mega contract that still pays them through 2023-24 without renegotiation. No one can blame any player for getting a huge payday at any point in his career, even if the contract didn’t work out well for the team handing out the deal. As we’ve done with the highest paid players of the past 20 years, we’ll now only focus on players with mega-deals in 2023-24.
With so much money being poured into players these days, it’s more likely that a player will fall into the high-paying category than be considered undervalued. Mistakes can be made when players are paid based on potential rather than what they actually have proven on the court, but that’s what the NBA does.
Without further ado, here are the 10 highest paid players in the 2023-24 NBA season.
10. Mike Conley – $24,360,000
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Mike Conley Jr. is a savvy veteran point guard whose All-Defensive performance and leadership once guaranteed him a big paycheck. Entering his 16th season, Conley will become the 50th highest paid player in the NBA in 2023-24, ahead of the likes of Domantas Sabonis, Aaron Gordon and Mikal Bridges.
In 2021, Conley signed a three-year, $68 million deal with the Jazz before being traded to Minnesota for the 2022-23 season. Now, after his contract expires, Conley will earn more than $24 million for the 2023-24 season. In 24 games played for the Timberwolves last season, Conley averaged 14.0 points, 5.0 assists and 1.2 points per game, helping the Timberwolves win the playoffs at the end of the season.
Conley will turn 36 before the start of the 2023-24 season, making him one of the highest-paid players over the age of 35 in the entire NBA. Conley will have a lot to prove in order to change my mind about being listed in the top 10 highest paid players. After all, we’re not talking gritty Mike Conley.
9. John Collins – $25,340,000
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There was a time when the hype and demand surrounding a player like John Collins fully warranted his $25 million per season salary. The 2023-24 season will be the second season of his massive extension, with a salary increase from $23 million in 2022-23 to just over $25 million in 2023-24.
Collins has been on a downward spiral the past two seasons, though he has improved slightly on the defensive end. In 71 games for the 2022-23 season, Collins is averaging just 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds, his lowest scoring since his rookie year and the lowest rebounding performance of his career. That doesn’t look good for players whose salaries will rise over the next few seasons.
The bright side is that Collins was 26 at the start of the season, not 26 like Conley. This will be the peak of his athletic career, so maybe he can fulfill the potential that a lot of people have seen in him in the past. The Atlanta Hawks certainly hope he does. They’ve kept him despite rumors of some trades that might improve their team, and his trade value could drop if his trend declines further.
8. Jordan Poole – $28,705,357
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Jordan Poole will give the Washington Wizards a fresh start in the 2023-24 season after being traded by the Golden State Warriors for Chris Paul this offseason. Aside from the obvious reason of a feud with former teammate Draymond Green, Poole was fired by the Warriors just one year after signing a four-year, $140 million extension. Poole is projected to make more than $28.7 million in 2023-24 and more than $30 million in each of the next two seasons.
That’s definitely overpaid for a player who had a great playoff run in 2022 and helped the Warriors win an NBA title but took a huge step back in 2022-23. Don’t get me wrong, Poole averaged 20.4 points per game during the regular season, but shot 43.0 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three. He also struggled in the NBA playoffs, averaging just 10.3 points and shooting 25.4 percent from three in 13 games.
Poole is one of those players who can really make me break my word at the end of the 2023-24 season, especially starting a new life in a new city. However, in order to get off the list, he has to win the list and tell me I’m wrong before I move him.
7. Kyle Lowry – $29,682,540
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Next on this list is another veteran point guard whose trade came late and created problems for his team and their financial planning. 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 contract, and Lowry will earn close to $30 million, making him the 42nd highest paid player in the NBA.
In the 2022-23 season, the 36-year-old Lowry averaged 11.2 points, 5.1 assists and 1.0 assists in 55 games for Miami. He also helped the team reach the NBA Finals, averaging 9.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. Sure, there were times when he looked slow, as if age had finally caught up with him, and other times, he turned the clock and helped his team to victory.
Lowry played fewer than 65 games in each of his final two seasons with the Heat, and for a team looking to overcome its championship woes and sign Damian Lillard, one of the first priorities will be getting rid of Lowry’s nearly $30 million salary. Unfortunately, not many teams need a 37-year-old, late-career point guard at such a premium. For Lowry, “overpaying” is a reasonable term in the 2023-24 season.
6. CJ McCollum – $35,802,469
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As things stand, 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, in 2023-24 he will earn more than the likes of Jamal Murray, Ja Morant, Donovan Mitchell and De’Aaron Fox, all of whom I believe are a class or more above him in terms of on-court production.
McCollum averaged 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 0.9 rebounds per game as the Pelicans’ starting shooting guard in 75 games for New Orleans in 2022-23. McCollum has been on the brink of the All-Star game for most of his career, but has never been named to an All-Star Game or an All-NBA team. The sheer number of players making the All-NBA first and second teams in 2022-23 means McCollum is overpaid.
5. Bradley Beal – $46,741,590
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For the 2023-24 season, all eyes will be on Bradley Beal, who waived the Wizards’ no-trade clause earlier in the offseason to join Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Deandre Ayton in Phoenix. Beal will likely serve as the team’s starting point guard after Phoenix cut back depth and took a ton of draft money in the process.
Beal signed a five-year, $251 million deal with the Wizards in 2022, one of the largest deals in NBA history, that would make him the sixth-highest paid player in the NBA this season. If this was Bradley Beal in 2020-21, I’d say he’s already made $46.75 million in 2023-24. However, in the two years since his last All-Star selection, Beal has averaged 23.2 points on 48.0 percent shooting in 50 games or fewer in both seasons.
Bill is currently one of the highest paid players in the NBA. That could all change if he proves to be the key to the Suns making another run to the Western Conference Finals. The Suns are paying a lot for their core four, and that pays off even better, otherwise more than one player on their roster could end up on the highest-paid player list next season.
4. Rudy Gobert — $41 million
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There was a time when Rudy Gobert was worth a $40 million-plus annual salary for every penny he offered the team. Gobert is a former Defensive Player of the Year and NBA All-Star whose interior defense has won and lost games for his team. However, his $41 million earnings in 2023-24 would make him the 13th highest-paid player in the NBA and the second-highest-paid center in the NBA next season, both of which are absolutely absurd.
Gobert joining the Timberwolves and their core of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns should change the league and put Minnesota in contention for a championship. Instead, the first-year experiment failed, leading to another first-round exit in the playoffs. In his first season with the Timberwolves, Gobert averaged 13.4 points per game, the lowest since 2016, and 11.6 rebounds, the lowest since 2018. He also averaged less than 2.0 points per game for the first time since his rookie season in 2014.
All I know is that for $41 million, Gobert is better off starting to play like a top-five center in the game and helping out more on offense. Long gone are the days when interior defense was the most valuable skill in basketball.
3. Tobias Harris – $39,270,150
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Yes, we’re still talking about the 2023 Tobias Harris deal. Harris signed a massive five-year, $180 million contract in 2019 when the 76ers decided to keep Harris instead of paying Jimmy Butler, a move that Sixers fans and team owners won’t soon forget.
Tobias Harris showed great potential in this trade as a 19.0-point-per-game scorer and solid defender. He hasn’t shown anything other than the past two seasons. Although Harris played 74 games in 2022-23, Harris’ averages for the 76ers dropped to 14.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in the second round of the playoffs in what felt like an endless season.
Harris is good, there’s no denying that. I would use him to replace a lot of forwards in today’s NBA. However, his salary is close to $40 million, a salary that only 17 other players can make in 2023-24. In my opinion, the Sixers need to keep trying to undo this deal in any way possible, even if it means taking a step back in terms of talent when they return. Harris might surprise me and come off this list, but at this point, he is who he is, and I suspect things will get better when he gets past 30.
2. Gordon Hayward – $31,500,000
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Gordon Hayward’s four-year, $120 million deal remains one of the worst deals signed by the NBA in the last two decades. Hayward signed the deal as part of a 2020 sign-and-trade that ended up joining the Hornets in Charlotte. One thing after another has happened to Hayward since signing, and he’s still falling short of one of the heaviest contracts in the NBA.
Hayward has yet to play more than 50 games in a single season with the Hornets, and has twice played less than 50 games in a single season. In fact, Hayward has never appeared in more than 53 games in a single season since he came off the bench in Boston in 2018-19 and appeared in 72 games. It would be a different story if he did improve when healthy, but injuries apparently started to affect his performance on the court as well. He averaged 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 50 games for the Hornets in 2022-23 as the Hornets missed the…
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