Jeff Green, one year, $15 million, Orlando Magic
The short length of this deal makes it pale in comparison to some of the others on this list. However, the Magic learned the same lesson as Boston, Memphis, and the Clippers: don’t pin your hopes on Jeff Green.
Green’s 44.2 effective field goal percentage exemplifies the inefficiency by which his career has been defined. He shot just 27.5 percent from three — unacceptable from a forward in today’s league — with a 10.5 PER. Green didn’t rebound particularly well, and if you expected his passing to save the season you probably haven’t watched much of Jeff Green. Defensively, Green was predictably bad, with a -1.32 defensive real plus-minus and -1.8 defensive box plus-minus.
Unlike most other deals on this list, this won’t harm Orlando in the long term. In fact, with Green hitting 31 next season and going into free agency on the heels of a terrible season, it’s tough to see anyone paying him more than the veteran minimum. However, Green’s contract does exemplify the nature of last summer’s free agent class.
We knew coming in that we would see bloated contracts, but we didn’t realize just how bloated. There’s no world in which Jeff Green was worth $15 million, cap spike or not. Even with the cap going up again by a smaller amount, we won’t see as many contracts like this because the bubble has burst.