In the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, veteran guard John Wall was paid more than $80 million by the Rockets despite not playing a single game. Effectively, Houston prioritized minutes and development for its younger players ahead of the former five-time All-Star.
It was a bitter financial pill to swallow for owner Tilman Fertitta and general manager Rafael Stone, but it’s worth remembering there weren’t many alternatives when it came to acquiring Wall in the first place. At the time, aging star Russell Westbrook was disgruntled and on a nearly identical contract to Wall — and it wasn’t possible to move one very bloated contract without taking back another.
With that in mind, the Rockets swapped Westbrook for Wall and a future first-round draft pick just prior to the 2020-21 season. Because Wall was considered a somewhat lesser player with a greater injury history, Washington had to include a draft asset, and that incentive made sense for a Houston team starting its rebuild.
But from a basketball standpoint, Wall played one season with the franchise. In 2021-22, which was the second-to-last year of Wall’s contract at the time, Houston agreed to a non-playing arrangement with Wall while working to trade him. During the 2022 offseason, when it was clear that further trades weren’t realistic, the Rockets struck an agreement with Wall to buy out the final year.
Not surprisingly, Wall’s salary relative to production in those years contributed to him being statistically the most overpaid player in NBA history, according to HoopsHype’s Real Value metric.
Here’s a look at which players with Rockets ties ended up on HoopsHype’s list of the 30 most overpaid players of all-time with analysis by Frank Urbina and Raul Barrigon. It’s worth noting that some of these players were overpaid by non-Houston franchises during other portions of their long careers.