Ranking the 10 worst contracts in the NBA right now
Otto Porter was receiving a lot of interest form teams such as the Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets prior to the 2017-18 season, but the Wizards matched the Nets' $106 million offer to bring back their then-fifth-year star. And though he began the first season of that four-year (with a player option) deal on the right note, recording career highs in scoring (14.7 points per game), rebounds (6.4) and assists (2.0), he wasn't going to stick around in D.C. for long.
He was moved to the Chicago Bulls in return for Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker after some early-season drama which may have peaked at a "volatile practice" and was viewed as a high-upside piece for a rebuilding Bulls team. Little did the Bulls know, however, that his potential floor was as low as his ceiling was high. The Georgetown product had a good start to his career in Chicago at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season but only played in 14 games the following year due to an injury that held him out from November to March.
So far throughout 2020-21, he's been fine. But he hasn't played up to his $28.4 million player option that the Bulls are paying him to be the backup forward that he is. He's making more than non-rookie-contract names like Brandon Ingram, Domantas Sabonis and Christian Wood, all of whom are players the Bulls (and Wizards) would most certainly have preferred to own for that same salary.
Fortunately for the Bulls, Porter's lucrative contract comes to an end at the conclusion of this season. Had this list been written two years ago, he would have been included in the top ten. But because we can forget about Porter's current deal in just a handful of months, we'll leave him off and instead look at ten players whose contracts will hurt their teams for some time moving forward.
All contract information retrieved from Spotrac. All stats retrieved from Basketball Reference.