Bleacher Report put together its 2020-21 season ranking of the NBA’s most overpaid players list, and an Oklahoma City Thunder player was on it.
The fact that a Thunder player made an appearance isn’t as notable is which one was not part of the list.
Point guard Chris Paul entered the season with a league-wide perception that his contract — which will be $41 million in 2020-21 season — was an albatross. But after a remarkable first season in Oklahoma City, it’s not considered one of the 10 worst in the league.
Bleacher Report does consider center Steven Adams’ contract as one of the worst, though.
Adams is set to make $27.5 million this coming season. As a relatively traditional center — one who doesn’t step out to space the floor, one who’s a good but not great passer — that’s too much, in B/R’s point of view.
Reporter Grant Hughes writes:
Steven Adams may very well be carved from a block of granite, and he’s probably the NBA player most likely to treat compound fractures by rubbing dirt on them and nonchalantly returning to the court. But a conventional center whose years spent absorbing physical punishment seem to have initiated his decline phase ahead of schedule isn’t worth anywhere near $27.5 million.
Adams averaged 10.9 points and 9.3 rebounds this season while shooting 59.2% on 7.6 shots per game. He averaged 1.1 blocks and 0.8 steals.
He anchored the best five-man lineup in the league as the man down low.
From Bleacher Report:
“Those are fine numbers, and they reflect the effort and force with which Adams operates. But as the league continues to shrink, further marginalizing bigs who can’t spread the floor or defend in space, Adams only becomes harder to imagine on the court in meaningful games.”
Adams was No. 9 on the 10-player list. Former Thunder player Russell Westbrook, now on the Houston Rockets, was No. 3, and Washington Wizards point guard John Wall topped the list.
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