Loul Deng is the benefactor of what’s wrong with the NBA free agent system. A player gets underpaid on their first contract in the league, which when the last year of their contract comes up, plays out of his mind. Deng is entering his fourth season in the league, and was rewarded by the Bulls, who felt he was going to be a vital piece to the future of the franchise, with a $72 million dollar contract in the offseason. In the first four seasons of Deng’s career, he earned a total of $10,652,099. This season, which has seen him averaging only 13 points a game, he is going to get paid a little over $9 million. That is $109,000 a game for 13 points. Now I don’t believe Loul is the most overpaid player in the league, but yet he represents everything that’s wrong with the free agent system.
How many times have we seen players get overpaid, often by another team, and they go to their new city and underperform? It might be easier to compile a list of players who actually earned the money they received off their free agent contract.
Another free agent who resigned with his current team last year was the Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala. Iguodala four season total earnings was a shade less than $9 million dollars prior to this year. This year he will make $11,300,000 and is currently averaging 13 points a game. That breaks down to almost $138,000 a game.
So what’s the answer? If you pay these players based on potential entering the league, similar to how the NFL does, it’s not quite as big of a leap of faith on players being overpaid after their rookie contract expires. You also allow teams to lock in their franchise draft pick for a longer term, similar to how the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL have their franchise QB Matt Ryan locked in for 6 years at $72 million. When he was signed on draft day, and later signed that contract, some raised eyebrows at the amount he was paid. Long term it Ryan may be a bargain. If the Thunder had a chance to lock in Kevin Durant for six years and $72 million dollars, they may have done it at a heartbeat. Instead they will have one of the most talented young players in the league playing on a bad team, with dreams of one day not only getting a big payday, but playing in a big market. Chris Bosh, who has evolved into a first team All-NBA caliber player in Toronto, will likely bolt Canada when his free agency period comes up in 2010. There may be no perfect solution, but something needs to be done.
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You are on point. Unfortunately, this occurs in the NFL too. Just look at Derek Anderson. One great year, the next year garbage. There’s so many examples—Ben Wallace when he signed to Chicago, Joel Pryzbilla a few years back when he played his ass off and got resigned, etc. There’s not much that can be done except having teams be more hesitant to sign players that have one good year, even if they risk losing that player—unless he plays SO WELL that they win the MVP Award (very unlikely). Good read.
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