HoopsHype presents the most overpaid and underperforming players in the NBA for 2023-24, including Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal and more.
If there’s one thing the casual NBA fan knows about the modern NBA, it’s that the league’s current generation of players is getting paid quite handsomely.
That does lead to some unfair, over-the-top criticism of current NBA players and the league’s health at large… and we’re going to add to that discourse today (sorry!) by taking a look at the most overpaid NBA players of the 2023-24 season.
To do so, we’re using our Real Value metric, which uses Global Rating (learn about our player-rating metric here) to determine how much each NBA player should be earning, salary-wise, based on their raw statistics, games played and team success. Once we had each player’s Real Value, we compared that number to their actual salaries to determine who the most overpaid NBA players of 2023-24 are in a fair manner.
After the San Antonio Spurs’ loss to the Phoenix Suns, Gregg Popovich praised Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.
The San Antonio Spurs welcomed the Phoenix Suns to town on Saturday night for their sixth home game in a row in the midst of a seven-game homestand. They were hoping to snap a two-game losing streak against a Suns squad whom they had already beaten twice this year – in back-to-back games at the very start of the season.
Unfortunately, this time around didn’t yield the same results. The Spurs lost to the Suns by a score of 131-106, as the Suns’ Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal showed out. They were too much for the Spurs to handle.
After the game, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich showed love to the trio of stars. (H/t ESPN)
“I thought we had a little more contact and physicality in the second half, but you’re not going to stop Book and K.D. from doing what they’re doing and Bradley’s healthy now,” Popovich said. “That’s a pretty tough trio. Our guys did everything they could, and you move on.”
Booker finished the game with 32 points, Durant had 25, and Beal had 13.
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Devin Booker suffered an ankle injury and the timing is truly horrendous.
According to Shams Charania, the Phoenix Suns star guard will miss “at least” the next seven to ten days. During that time, the team will have an uphill battle.
They will face the Nuggets on the road on March 5, which is never easy. Next up is a potentially winnable game against the Raptors (March 7) before the challenge intensifies against the Celtics (March 9) at home. They then travel to play the Cavaliers (March 11) and then another game against the Celtics (March 14).
Those could easily result in four out of five losses as Denver, Cleveland and Boston are three of the most intimidating teams in the league. But even when Booker returns, it’s not going to get any less difficult.
Phoenix has the most difficult remaining strength of schedule in the league this season, per Tankathon and Basketball-Reference. Here is more analysis from John Schuhmann (via NBA.com):
“The Suns have the league’s toughest schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage and the most remaining games (17) against teams that enter March with winning records, currently 16-16 within that group. Thirteen of those 17 are against the seven teams with better records than they have, and they’re just 2-5 against those seven teams thus far.”
The Suns have played pretty well with Booker on the floor this season, via PBPStats, outscoring opponents by 5.7 points per 100 possession. But they are getting outscored by 2.3 points per 100 when he is off the court.
Booker’s impact is significant and his on-off swing currently ranks in the 89th percentile among all players, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Even in the minutes with his co-stars Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal but no Booker so far this season, Phoenix has gotten outscored by 6.7 points per 100 possessions.
There is a 77.2 percent chance that Phoenix makes the play-in tournament, according to dunksandthrees.com. Projections from Basketball-Reference are even higher, slating the likelihood at 81.2 percent.
That isn’t great considering how many future assets the front office has given up to make themselves a win-now contender, especially as Durant gets older at 35 years old.
With all that in mind, however, the star-driven Suns are still not a team that many would like to face in the opening rounds of the playoffs in the Western Conference.
Caitlin Clark makes history
We have had so much incredible Caitlin Clark content on our site over the last few days. After the Iowa star broke the Division I college basketball all-time scoring record, let’s review some of our coverage!
“It was good to see that fight and physicality,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said after Saturday’s win in Phoenix. “It was obviously night and day from the last game.”
PHOENIX — In an odd scheduling quirk with created three games against the same opponent in a nine-game span, the Houston Rockets had their mental and physical abilities challenged by the Suns. There was consistent trash talk from All-Star guard Devin Booker, whose words are almost as verbally abusive as his physical style of play.
Yet, the one thing the Suns may not have considered is this isn’t the same Rockets team from previous years. Those teams might have let Phoenix get away with some of those on-court bullying antics, which are meant to get inside the heads of opposing players and throw them off. However, this veteran-led Houston team quickly adopted a mindset and culture that no one would bully it.
Over those three games, Houston went 2-1 versus a high-powered offense led by Booker and Kevin Durant, and a Suns team (35-25) that ranks sixth in the Western Conference standings. More importantly, Saturday’s win broke a nine-game road losing streak.
“I like the fight; I like the intensity,” said Rockets guard Fred VanVleet. “We are a young team, and we have to use that energy to our advantage, and we are not getting punked by anybody, so that is definitely not going to happen. We bring that fight. If things get chippy, that means that both teams are playing hard.”
The back-and-forth between the two teams started last week in Houston when rookie Cam Whitmore and Booker engaged in a small skirmish that had been building throughout the game as both players took opportunities to exchange words up and down the court. One week later, the bad blood boiled over in Phoenix when the two engaged in another heated exchange during Thursday’s fourth quarter.
“I like it,” Booker said of Whitmore’s approach after the second incident. “I’ve been in these situations plenty of times before. I was that same, young player doing that same thing. I remember doing it to Jimmy Butler my rookie year, him going in the postgame talking about me. You never want to back down, and I respect going at a top player. You just gotta be ready for it.”
On Saturday, the Suns were back to their bullying tactics, with veteran guard Bradley Beal seeming to follow his teammates’ lead. This time, he was quickly ejected after getting into a shoving match with Houston’s Jalen Green, who was giving the Suns fits on his way to a second straight 34-point scoring outburst.
Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet said after Thursday’s game against the Suns that they were not backing down from anyone…And they are not tonight either…#Sargepic.twitter.com/duD7QsXm5I
One game after Houston had its worst shooting performance of the season (33.7% FG) — and trailed by 16 points in the first quarter — they took control of Saturday’s game early by scoring 38 points in the first quarter. That set the tone for the remainder of the night.
“It was good to see that fight and physicality,” Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said postgame. “I think we had that from the start. It was obviously night and day from the last game, when we got off to a poor start. Tonight, we kind of jumped on them, and they had to struggle to come back. Everything they threw, we took it and made big plays when we had to. I loved our physicality and aggressiveness and throwing bodies around.”
Houston (26-34) goes home for a quick back-to-back against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday before heading back on the road this weekend.
Unless these players denied invitations, these are some very shocking decisions by Team USA.
USA Basketball announced a 41-athlete player pool as candidates for the Paris Olympics roster. Eventually, 12 players will make the final cut.
Among the 12 names that we initially projected to make the roster after the 2023 FIBA World Cup, 11 appeared on the first list. Those players were LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Bam Adebayo, Anthony Edwards and Mikal Bridges.
A few notable All-Stars to also earn invitations include Chris Paul, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brown, Trae Young, Jrue Holiday, De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jarrett Allen.
The other players were Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Brunson, Alex Caruso, Aaron Gordon, Josh Hart, Tyler Herro, Chet Holmgren, Cam Johnson, Walker Kessler, Bobby Portis, Austin Reaves, Duncan Robinson and Derrick White.
Two players who we did not include in our surprising omissions were Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant. While both of these players may have helped the team on the court, they have faced off-court issues that made invitations unlikely — plus Morant is currently injured.
Otherwise, these were the most surprising omissions from the list:
“You can’t take the team out of D.C.,” Bradley Beal said.
The Washington Wizards and Capitals are planning to move out of D.C. and across the Potomac River to Alexandria, Virginia and into a 70-acre “entertainment district” set to be completed by 2028.
And former Wizard Bradley Beal, like many D.C. sports fans, would prefer his old team stay in the city it represents, which is extremely reasonable and fair. Should the Wizards and Capitals leave Washington, they’d join the Commanders as D.C. teams not actually based in D.C.
In a video diary entry for ESPN’s Andscape, Beal basically begged Ted Leonsis — whose Monumental Sports owns both Washington franchises — to keep the teams in D.C.
As we previously explained, money is playing a large role in this expected move. Both teams currently play at Capital One Arena, and Leonsis wants a renovation, asking the city to pay for $600 million of the $800 million project, The Washington Post noted. Not making progress with D.C., Leonsis, it seems, went to the adjacent state.
Beal acknowledged the financial situation, but he made his case to the Wizards and Capitals owner.
To Andscape, Beal said:
“D.C., there is no moving to Virginia. What is that? Ted, we love you to death. We understand what you want to do and [are] trying to do. But you can’t take the team out of D.C. It’s Chocolate City. We need, as a league, we gotta keep that. D.C. — it has to stay in D.C.
“Now, the money? Listen, that’s out of my hands, that’s out of my controls. I ain’t got nothing to do with that. Hopefully [Washington D.C.] mayor [Muriel] Bowser can work something out with you. I don’t know. I don’t know. I hope the team stays. I think it’s good for the city. Think it creates a little bit of a problem, just my personal opinion, if it moves to Virginia.
“It’s probably similar to how people felt when [the Washington Commanders] moved to Maryland. It is a tough thing. I think we just got to get everybody back to D.C. Just rebuild RFK Stadium, rebuild Cap One [Arena]. Just keep it in the city. We can make it happen. They can make it happen. They can make it happen.”
The Warriors could see Bradley Beal with the Suns for the first time on Tuesday.
After suffering a rough loss in overtime to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Golden State Warriors.
On Tuesday, the Warriors travel to the desert to meet the Phoenix Suns in a star-studded contest. Tuesday’s game could feature the return of a missing piece of the Suns’ new-look big three.
Bradley Beal could make his highly anticipated return to the court after missing 12 games with a back injury. Beal missed the first seven games of the season with the same injury.
After missing the last month with a back injury, Phoenix Suns star guard Bradley Beal is targeting return to action Tuesday vs. the Golden State Warriors barring any setback, sources tell @TheAthletic@Stadium. pic.twitter.com/tgkEreMvLq
Beal has played only three games this season, averaging 17.3 points on 39.1% shooting from the field to go along with 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Injuries have stopped the Suns’ trio of Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker from playing together this season.
The Warriors meet the Suns on Tuesday in Arizona at 7 p.m. PT.
The Suns might be in quite a bit of trouble here. Yikes.
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It’s hard to ever say a team that employs Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on it is cooked. But every single day the Suns edge closer and closer to that point.
Just a few days ago we thought the Suns were primed to finally debut the new big 3 of Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal. On Wednesday they were all set to play together for the first time with everyone healthy in the lineup.
But then Bradley Beal’s back flared up. Again. He couldn’t play. To this point, he’s only played in three of the Suns’ 11 games and he’s about to miss a whole lot more.
Fast forward to today and, now, The Athletic’s Shams Charania’s latest report makes things seem much worse than they initially sounded. Beal is out in Phoenix again with what the team is calling a back strain. He’ll reportedly be re-evaluated in three weeks.
Suns star Bradley Beal will be out and re-evaluated in three weeks as he continues to rehab a low back strain.
That’s not a good sign. There’s no guarantee he’ll be back after these three weeks. It’s just a wait-and-see approach. Meanwhile, the Suns are floundering in a tough Western Conference.
With those two moves Phoenix made a big bet on its star talent. The Suns no longer had depth, but so what? With so much talent between its stars they’d be fine if they could just stay healthy.
Fast forward to today and Kevin Durant is the only one out of the three who hasn’t missed a game. Booker has been in and out of the lineup. Beal has essentially been completely absent and there’s no telling when he’ll be back.
The worst part is there’s no way for Phoenix to get any help in the meantime. The team’s assets are gone. The depth they have isn’t working. But what they’re working with now is what they’ll have to work within the immediate future. The Suns must make do with that.
Phoenix’s gamble was always a risky one. None of Phoenix’s three stars have the best track record when it comes to health. Beal, in particular, hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season since 2021. It doesn’t seem like that’s changing this year.
The Phoneix Suns are the latest cautionary tale on stockpiling star players. Having stars is great. But when you sacrifice the rest of your team to have more stars than everyone else, you’d better make sure they’re reliable.
The NBA’s upside-down West
Speaking of the Suns and their middling record, Phoenix isn’t the only “contender” in the West looking up at everyone else.
If you look at the West right now, the top six only have a couple of teams everyone expected to be in the mix — the Nuggets and the Kings. The rest? Man. If you’d told me the Warriors, Lakers and Suns were all looking play-in-bound bound I probably would’ve laughed at you.
It looks like this could be the end of an era for some of the NBA’s most legendary veterans. We’ll see.
Throw it in the Louvre
Here’s the jump ball between Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama from earlier this week on Tuesday. No, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
(Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
I don’t know if this is what Dr. James Naismith envisioned when he first started throwing balls into peach baskets.
This has got to be the most gigantic jump ball in NBA history. It’s a Kaiju flick on an NBA court. And we get to watch this for the next 15 years or whatever.
Basketball gods, I cannot thank you enough. But I will do my best. Thank you.
Check out the injury report for the Chicago Bulls ahead of their contest vs. the Phoenix Suns.
The Chicago Bulls will take on the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. Lonzo Ball is obviously still on the injury report, but a few of his teammates will join him on the list. Alex Caruso and Patrick Williams are both PROBABLE to play, while all three of Chicago’s two-way players – Onrulap Bitim, Justin Lewis, and Adama Sanogo – will be unavailable as they are with the G League.
Caruso is currently dealing with a right elbow sprain, while Williams is recovering from a left finger sprain. Both players appeared in the Bulls’ last game against the San Antonio Spurs, and they were both listed on the injury report ahead of that game as well.
Meanwhile, the Suns are dealing with some injuries as well. Devin Booker remains OUT for the game against the Bulls. However, Bradley Beal has been upgraded to QUESTIONABLE ahead of the contest.
Beal has yet to appear in a game for the Suns this year after joining the team via trade this offseason.
Booker is currently recovering from a right calf strain, and Beal is dealing with lower back spasms.
Should Beal make his return against the Bulls, it would be a major test for a Chicago team looking to build off their latest win. After getting blown out by the Denver Nuggets, the Bulls destroyed the Utah Jazz on Monday, and they will undoubtedly be hoping to keep up the momentum they gained.
With Booker out for Phoenix, the Bulls should look to take advantage of the opportunity.
Ahead of the San Antonio Spurs game against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, updates on Devin Booker and Bradley Beal have surfaced.
Phoenix Suns star Bradley Beal will not be available for Thursday’s game against the Phoenix Suns. A report from Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports revealed that the new Suns, who has yet to make his debut, will be out, along with Damion Lee. That said, there is hope that his co-star could make an appearance.
Bourguet also noted that the Suns upgraded Devin Booker’s status to questionable. He missed Phoenix’s game on Wednesday against the Spurs, which they ended up losing by one point in the final moments of the contest. Booker has not played since the Suns’ season opener.
After the Suns’ loss on Wednesday, head coach Frank Vogel was unclear as to when the two stars would be back.
