With the coronation of the Cleveland Cavaliers as champions, the 2015-16 NBA season came to a close. And as hectic as those finals and the entire season as a whole might have been, what has transgressed since then might have been even crazier.
Leading up to Friday, there had been whispers within the NBA community involving the much anticipated upcoming free agency period; talk of where players were considering going, which teams were interested in them and how much money they could possibly get. Some of these whispers seemed reasonable, yet others astonishing, leading me to close my ears to all the reports that were leaking out and to just wait and see what would unfold the minute the clock struck midnight, and the calendars flipped from June to July.
To say the least, I was not prepared for the lunacy that would ensue.
On Friday, throughout the day I periodically checked ESPN to stay up to date on the developing free agency moves. And each time I checked, my jaw dropped lower and lower to the floor.
To begin the day, it was announced that Joakim Noah had agreed to a four year, $72 million deal. Noah, coming off the worst season of his nine-year career where he played in only 29 games, was now being paid what many all-stars the year prior wished they had been paid. But the news only got more amazing from there. Timofey Mozgov, a man who played just 25 minutes total in the Cavaliers seven finals games this past season, signed a four-year, $64 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. And then, to close out one of the most ridiculous days of NBA free agency, Mike Conley — who has never made a single All-Star appearance — signed the richest contract in league history at five years, $153 million.
It was expected that teams would not be frugal in this free agency period. With the salary cap expected to be raised about 34 percent from last season, many teams now have cash to spend that they never thought they’d have. But how these teams have chosen to take advantage of this has been sad. Instead of saving the newfound cap space to use on rookie contracts that will be expiring within the next few years, or maintaining the flexibility to sign a great superstar in the future, teams have irresponsibly chosen to pay role players superstar money. Players who might not crack the starting rotation, or have not proven that they can stay healthy for even close to an entire season, are now being paid more than stars who have proven day in and day out that they are the best in the league.
Now, with just three days completed in this free agency period and many more to come, what has already been the most disappointing and saddening year of free agency in recent memory only seems destined to get worse.