Bismack Biyombo, four years, $72 million, Orlando Magic
Bismack Biyombo says he's going to take his summer very seriously. He knows the recipe, now he just has to do it pic.twitter.com/9WFRJwV2pC
— Courtney Jasmin (@IamCourtJasmin) April 13, 2017
So, in the end, it turned out giving a player $72 million based mostly on two playoff games didn’t work out. After Biyombo’s all-world performance in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, then-Magic general manager Rob Hennigan decided to splurge on Biyombo, which didn’t make sense at the time for a litany of reasons.
First and foremost, that move, in conjunction with trading for power forward Serge Ibaka on draft night, forced power forward Aaron Gordon to play the bulk of his minutes at small forward. That helped stunt both Gordon’s development and Orlando’s chances of winning. Furthermore, playing Gordon, Ibaka and Biyombo together was a spacing nightmare. That three-man group was outscored by 8.4 points per 100 possessions before Hennigan dealt Ibaka to Toronto in February.
For the team’s $72 million investment in Biyombo, it got 9.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per 36 minutes, which translated to a 14.2 PER. Even his defense, the only sure thing about Biyombo’s game, saw notable decline. In Toronto last year, opponents shot just 49.6 inside six feet with Biyombo defending. This season, that number shot up to 59.4 percent.
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that Biyombo will be 25 next season. Even if they’re overpaying, the Magic still get him in his prime and there’s a chance his defensive performance this year was a mere aberration. Although his age has come into dispute, the Magic are probably still getting Biyombo’s best years. That alone makes this contract better than the likes of Mozgov, Deng and Noah.