Bill Simmons’s Worst NBA Contracts Draft | The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House and Wosny Lambre to make a draft of the current worst contracts in the NBA.
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[@xsa442]

this trio + russillo is gold standard for me. glad the full pod is posted here.

[@ma1ist]

swap zach lowe for wos i like wos a lot tho

[@BabylonGateLA]

@@ma1ist Ryen is much funnier tho

[@tayshaughn]

Zach Lowe is annoying

[@ll_llNASHll_ll]

Fax

[@paulwilliams5500]

I love this trio, and I love Rusillo and Simmons together for different reasons. This was gold.

[@witchdoctor813]

Bill and House talking bad contracts and team f-ups never gets old😂

[@prod.snqwfall1347]

Especially Wizards/Celtics stuff, you can hear the pain lmao

[@forestforest1859]

​@prod.snQwfall "house, this is like a wizards type move"😂

[@michaelahurt]

Which one of these guys is gonna get Pascal Siakim "Ooops our bad" Award in 10 months? Smart to do it in March though. Lol

[@1thoughtfantasy59]

hilarious

[@sergeynazaro1768]

I just wish we didn’t have WOZ on this. House and bill are pure bliss

[@howardschilling8271]

Wos waxing poetic about Ben Simmons’ atrocity of a contract is the stuff basketball journalism is made of

[@beerrrr6869]

What about the contract brooklyn gave joe harris funny how that never discussed.

[@David-iv6je]

@@beerrrr6869 Sure. But Wos has it right. Every one of the other guys on this list can actually play NBA basketball, even if the "market" over-valued them. Simmons at this point cannot.

[@stephenjackson9948]

At least Joe Harris shoots the basketball

[@Nalololol]

@@beerrrr6869 cause it's not a bad contract

[@davincerica7232]

​@lol it's a bad contract thought

[@p-money33]

This might be my favourite 'draft' pod that Simmons does

[@Juno212]

The Johnny Davis one got me 🤣 came FULL CIRCLE

[@thedoranwilliamsshow6863]

For real doe

[@BackWhereYouStarted]

Keep the drafts coming! I'll never get tired of 'em!

[@Okamotolbj]

I would love an end recap with a winner 🥇

[@210Dinero]

Bill really predicted Miami beating the Celtics 😂😂😂

[@jeffmarchand9254]

The master

[@mathboy8188]

Nostradamus even called it for the conference finals "In the 2-7". Crazy.

[@michaelturley3457]

Celtics choking should never not be predicted lol

[@sammyttheg412]

Such a good point by Bill about lebron vs zion. Hes working hard to stay healthy in year 20 while Zion can't stay healthy as a 21 year old

[@samueltheodros8732]

This is the best of what you guys do. More personality, more laughs, and consistent familiar faces would cure this pod

[@killerk3431]

2:00 - Ben Simmons 10:35 - Bradley Beal 15:45 - Duncan Robinson 20:45 - Davis Bertans 23:55 - Rudy Gobert 28:20 - Karl Anthony Towns 33:50 - John Collins 36:50 - Trae Young 39:40 - Lonzo Ball 41:20 - Jordan Poole 46:10 - Evan Fournier 48:55 - Tobias Harris 51:30 - DeAndre Hunter 53:55 - Michael Porter Jr 57:00 - Kyle Lowry 58:30 - Richaun Holmes 1:00:00 - Zion Williamson 1:04:00 - Damian Lillard 1:08:00 - Zach LaVine 1:10:45 - Jonathan Isaac 1:12:00 - Marcus Smart 1:16:20 - Jusuf Nurkic

[@LinardsZ]

Bertans contract right now does not look that bad IMO if he plays like he is playing with hes country

[@Mac2Mon]

House saying Lowry is out of shape & Zion got in great shape is hilarious 😂😂😂

[@3Loog3]

Just looking at their first 5 pics, here is each guy's starting 5: Wos starting 5: Ben Simmons - 3 yrs/$113 mil - Nets PG $38 mil/yr KAT 5/260 - Wolves - C 52 John Collins 3/79 - Hawks PF 26 DeAndre Hunter 4/90 - Hawks SF 23 Michael Porter Jr - 3/105 - Denver SG 35 Total annual salary: $174 million House Starting 5: Bradley Beal 5/251 - Wizards SF 50 Rudy Gobert 4/170 - Wolves C 43 Trae Young 5/215 - Hawks PG 43 Tobias Harris 2/77 - 76ers PF 39 Kyle Lowry - 2/58 - Heat SG 29 Total annual salary: $204 million Simmons starting 5 Duncan Robinson 4/74 - Heat SF 19 Davis Bertans 3/49 - Mavs PF 16 Jordan Poole 5/132 - Warriors PG 26 Evan Fournier 2/37 - Knicks SG 19 Richaun Holmes - 3/36 - Kings C 12 Total annual salary: $92 million House's five have the highest salary, but at least he got 5 startable players. Wos got the highest SPD (suck per dollar), so I think he won. Simmons failed the assignment--he's not even over the salary cap.

[@marotzj]

Where are you getting these positions? Kyle Lowry has been a PG his entire career, Michael Porter Jr is definitely a forward (he's 6'10"), Bradley Beal and Jordan Poole are 2 guards.

[@3Loog3]

@@marotzj Right, but I was going with the first five they drafted, so among Lowry and Young, somebody has to be two guard. Trae likes the ball.... a lot.... so I figure he's end up point. Same with the other positions. I was working with the five they each drafted first.

[@jocofnazareth]

Kyle Lowry is so trash , how did he bamboozle the heat

[@brettlord6379]

Simmons took Zion and his 200 mill. Swap him for Holmes in your starting 5

[@andrewshandle]

Simmons may not have hit the cap, but his team would win like 12 games. Wos' and House's teams would at least win 30.

[@l.l.a-dubs9804]

Such a good segment. Last year's was great and I look forward to this being a yearly thing

[@johnray527]

I love these. That Ben Simmons contract will rule this segment until he's bought out.

[@sullivan62091]

“He belongs in china” 😂😂😂

[@Jawnderlust]

The House Simmons reaction on Deandre Hunter is meme worthy

[@Mike_Viola]

Man so glad this got clipped for a video. Was listening to it and was so good.

[@lukewo5067]

Jordan Poole is like paying Jamal Crawford 30 million a year

[@xblfanatic360]

Crawford was a better player and actually tried on defense at one point in his career.

[@joeshmoe8134]

Poole would have been my 3rd round pick easy. Think about this….after drafting Klay and trading for KD, the Warriors have missed on EVERY SINGLE DECISION.

[@xblfanatic360]

@@joeshmoe8134 I wouldn’t go that far. Poole showed up when it mattered most in the finals. And Wiggins was a great pickup

[@BostonsF1nest]

@@xblfanatic360 that’s the problem tho- guys get paid for what they did over a 7 game series rather than the previous 95 games

[@jacobwilkins8761]

@@joeshmoe8134 It was the 28th pick. Who should they have taken instead? I guess you can argue for Claxton and Keldon Johnson, but I strongly doubt they win last year with either of those guys.

[@maxpennacchini3261]

Few podcasts come out that are over an hour long where I know I’m gonna listen to every word and be entertained

[@JohnnyEnglishBFH]

This was my first Simmons podcast episode that I listened to and this was a great discussion. Some solid choices for a packed field of bad contracts.

[@Halbumen]

enjoyed this feature so much last year with Wos, this is the perfect trio to do it with

[@scottipippen6554]

Epic pod again! I could listen to those 3 all week long. To House and Bill alone every day, all year, lmao. Greets from Munich;-)

[@_FMSL_]

The video quality finally improved!!

[@Chillaaaaxxx]

Thought the same thing. Love it.

[@thedoranwilliamsshow6863]

We need to get House a mic stand

[@vikramvedha7586]

You got it bro I don't think I will be contributing.😅

[@David-iv6je]

Why would you ruin this? 🤣

[@thedoranwilliamsshow6863]

@@HawgJawn His BRAND!! Of course. What was I thinking 🙃

[@Jack-jx6ln]

Watching in anticipation of a new draft coming up

[@patrik32]

I like this trio!! Give us more to listen to

[@Euclid06]

I remember a lot of people was mad about Ben Simmons being on the list. Guess Wos was right 😂😂

[@richmyrie4162]

they should take this 1 step further....instead of just talking about the players & contracts, they should also discuss the General Manager that gave 'said contract'. ...and we can see if any GM appears multiple times.

[@nathanredman3439]

Hopefully, Wos addresses Sabonis and is forced to acknowledge that he just never watched a single Pacers game in either of the two years that Domas made the all-star game. It's almost like these guys have no idea what they're talking about!

[@danieltougher1557]

💯

[@ralphcontreras1230]

YEEEESSS!!! The Worst Contract Draft 2.0!!! I’ve been waiting years for this!!

[@lil_nameless59]

52:21 someone brought this sound bite up on Reddit and it’s way funnier visually now 💀

[@revan3841]

I think Simmons will suddenly give a crap in the last year of his deal, which will put the intelligence of a number of GMs to the test.

[@josephirving7336]

Yes!!!!!!! I’m so happy. I like the addition of Wos the last two years

[@e2zbasketball288]

Hes a stupid ******er

[@liferealgood]

This is better than the NBA/NFL draft. I still have a headache over the Beal contract. A no trade clause for a player that’s never really led your team to the playoffs.

[@liferealgood]

And I’m not calling him a bad player but he’s just overpaid.

[@FalseNi9e]

He's pretty much a vreat role player at this point

[@39872adnan]

I can listen to House talk about the Washington basketball team and bad contracts with the pain and disdain in his voice all day 😂

[@adamhammond9985]

My 7 year old the first time she saw Kyle Lowry playing: "I'm surprised there's an NBA player who's kind of bigger like that" 🤣

[@Bluemudphoenix]

Fascinating being here after Beal and Poole just got trader. Duncan Robinson playing again and I’m only 19 minutes in. Ben Simmons situation hasn’t changed tho haha

[@Thomas-qi9ix]

We NEED more WOSNY content!

[@MrBgood84]

We need more of these and what ifs

[@griff44007]

So glad you did this again this year!

[@ryanmatthews7405]

I enjoyed this far more than I had any right to. This was great stuff.

[@ricardotejeda6530]

What's wild about Duncan's contract is that it was a discount for what he was projected to get. Cats were saying he could get $95 million elsewhere. Bertans set Dunc's contract when he got $85 million on a team going nowhere.

[@mksee66]

Cant believe Porter made the list. 17.4 PPG shooting 41% at 7 attempts is elite. still very young.

[@daveclark8337]

17 pts / 5 rebounds isn't worthy of $36 million per year.

[@townsmediaintl]

Who’s here after the finals 😅? Duncan robinson contract doesn’t look so bad now considering how important he was to that run

[@doktarr]

MPJ doesn't deserve to be on this list any longer. Dude is ballin.

[@Whitey_96]

funny to see how Duncan Robinsons value is now compared to a month ago before playoffs… dude is a pivotal piece on a finals team

[@3piecespicygolf]

This was a good pod. Also, Bill appeared to become despondent and emotional when talking about the Celtics. Looked on the verge of tears when discussing the rapid decline of Marcus Smart.

[@roboninja3194]

Kind of interesting considering Smart got traded.

[@EmanCollins]

Btw, this draft is fire every year. Absolutely love it!

[@IcebergSSBU]

First time seeing Wos on here, really liked him on the pod! Likeable, and definitely knows basketball.

[@shorewall]

Yeah, every time he's on, he stands out to me with good takes. The opposite of KOC, who always stands out to me with bad takes. :D

[@donhello7522]

this was FANtastic!!..a fun listen.

[@sammyttheg412]

It's funny because Bill simmons always slammed the rockets for not getting ben simmons in the original harden deal

[@adamhammond9985]

If they had, his career might not have ended. Embiid and Doc cooked his soft mind.

[@isiah675]

Bill's side piece channel drops more content than the actual Ringer account good grief

[@cmac392]

Duncan was crushing 3s in the comfy/cozy confines of Disney...All-Time Bubble hero

[@gators9570]

Following season he still hit over 40% on high volume. The contract got in his head. Performance anxiety probably

[@antoniochicote4732]

Such a great segment

[@agame5998]

Davis Bertans is a classic example of the Spurs making a player a lot of money. Him and Johnathan Simmons.

[@omenihu]

Bill hates Kyrie so much he thinks the Wizards won the Mavs trade 😭

[@dominicdo2719]

Even when talking about other teams they somehow bring up the Wizards LOL They be catching strays left, right and centre

[@FalseNi9e]

Lonzo is a very sad contract, you nailed it

[@haydengreen3677]

Best gimmick by far

[@cottonmouth6369]

Love this gimmick

[@dynctive]

I love these kinds of NBA discussions. Fournier, to me, is by far the worst of all of the contracts mentioned

[@htown11465]

You think fournier is worse than Ben Simmons contract????

[@dynctive]

@@htown11465 When Fournier's was signed it looked back to me, with Ben, I honestly think there is still something special deep down inside there that could make the deal worth it

[@justinbrennan9819]

Ben Simmons laughing to the bank😅😅😅😅

[@TuchNGoh]

These 250 million dollar contacts are absolutely mind boggling.

[@jamiegaskins3687]

Idk how long it will take, but eventually these teams will finally realize that it’s a million times better to “lose a player for nothing”, than it is to give them a ridiculous contract and be stuck with them and their team killing contract.

[@iamthejolson]

Trae gets compared to Steph Curry all the time when the ACTUAL Steph he should be compared to is Marbury

[@cyclingchallenge]

Fun podcast. Wos is great addition: knowledgeable and always laughing

[@thedoranwilliamsshow6863]

I love these. Bill Simmons is the best

[@paragpatel8708]

Isaacs contract is only partially guaranteed 7.5 million next year and non guaranteed the next bult in injury stipulations all throughout the contract. Dude on the right doesn't know what he's talking about even when he had a chance to correct himself.

[@adamhammond9985]

Wos is an excellent communicator. He's definitely not top notch in basketball knowledge

[@robertriteman3227]

I have written on other posts addessing the Warriors lack of success this season that one of the biggest reasons for the decline ( as much as injuries) was the punch because the failurre of the Organization to severely penalize Green or trade him effectively put a player over the culture that the younger players had been told they should buy into so they checked out. Unlike many I do not believe that Green was indespensible to running it back as he could have been traded for others who would have compensated in other ways ( example- Myles Turner). It also likely contributed to them overpaying for Jordan Poole.

[@duffstrodamus3233]

Damn, simmons is owed 113 mil guaranteed... thats insane

[@chucknola484]

T-Wolves as of this writing is proving this podcast and all other doubters (me included) wrong so far in this 23/24 season.

[@liferealgood]

Still entertaining but yeah completely off with the evaluations. I actually had Minny as the 5th or 6th seed prior to the season but I had no idea PHX, LAL, and MEM would be this bad. I figured GS would take a step back. Age catching up.

[@DanielCarin]

loved every minute of this

[@jayjones9225]

Towns and Trae could still get you value back in a trade though. Huge, risky contracts but not in same universe of badness as Gobert, Bertans, Simmons deals

[@SomeChink]

can they really? who’s out there trying to trade for KAT and the privilege of paying him $50+ mil per year?

[@andrewshandle]

The issue with KAT is he has a 10% trade kicker, meaning he'll be getting just shy of 70M in the last year of his deal if traded.

[@roboninja3194]

@@andrewshandle Jesus. That's insane. He's so overrated. He'll never ever be the #1 option on a championship winning team and he's getting 50-60 million a season.

[@stefanpetrusca5990]

An idea for a series: top 5 worst/best moves/trades/signings for every NBA team.

[@amc1140]

Lakers top 5 worst moves are all the last few years lol

[@stefanpetrusca5990]

@@amc1140 Westbrook, Howard and Nash are up there, so yea.

[@amc1140]

@@stefanpetrusca5990 I was thinking Westbrook, Zubac, Caruso as the top 3 just because of how dumb it was at the time. Deng and Mozgov were bad too. At least Nash and Howard made us championship favorites at the time when Kobe was still amazing

[@stefanpetrusca5990]

@@amc1140 Championship contenders? They barely made the playoffs in ‘13. I don’t mind giving up all those young guys because they got a championship from that. Also, most of those guys are role players, only Ingram and Randle made a couple of all star teams.

[@amc1140]

@@stefanpetrusca5990 the Lakers and Heat were the favorites after the Howard trade, so I think it made sense at the time. I get the AD trade, but the Zubac and Caruso moves were just shooting ourselves in the foot for no reason.

[@meatusshaft300]

Until further notice, Ben Simmons is the worst contract in all of major sports! Maybe Russell Wilson in another year! 😂 😂

[@swpdisciple]

Such a hilarious listen 😂

[@stephenhiker9807]

Bill picking Duncan Robinson. May be right but DR getting his say after game 3 of the semis. 23 points in 22 minutes

[@sheldonn6571]

I feel like I’m being gaslit by the Blazer fans base about Nurkic. He hasn’t been a winning player since before the bubble. He’s constantly injured and out of shape, he whines constantly and lets his emotions take him out of the game, and at the best of times he’s a liability in offense but the soccer moms and transplants are constantly screaming about “Nurk Fever” dispute him basically rage quitting in the playoffs 2 seasons ago. I’m sick of his shenanigans and I’d personally drive him to the airport if I had the chance.

[@yuhman2894]

The scoring guard take was grossly underrrating all of their playmaking but a pretty valid point

[@pietx9696]

Yes Ooooooooooh my goodddd, I waited so long for part 2

[@Dadiplomatt23]

KAT had a stage 3 calf strain with 95% of his calf torn. Soooo yeah that’s the injury he’s dealing with.

[@turneryoung905]

Beal no trade clause is CRAZY

[@EmanCollins]

@ 30:20 House with the Popeye's chicken analogy. 😂😂💀💀

[@muRDoch56]

They bring up one of my biggest issues with the NBA today- players act like spoiled children… and always end up getting what they want

[@Obiamajoyisrmd]

Stupid comment. They are a walking, talking business

[@baxter1896]

Lmao shits been going on for decades - are you new to this??

[@jackoftradesmaterofnone585]

76ers pulled off one of the greatest trades in nba history

[@marquesmorgan7297]

I was hoping they didn't say Zion, but man he's so fragile. When healthy this guy is amazing. I doubt he'll ever play 82 games plus playoffs.I wonder what his trade value would be if they tried to get rid of him

[@Romanus-]

It’s inexcusable that he can’t drop some weight. Even getting back to where he was in college would he something. His knees will never last until he loses at least 20lbs

[@behrgriss]

Ben Simmons’ contract is fucking insane

[@dereksupernaut]

in '22 Bradley Beal shot 30threes% AND had 8 less ppg from the previous season; THEN got his 5 year contract... fax!!!

[@vintagemonte]

4:49 Kyrie didn’t have a big toe injury. giannis didn’t give him landing space on a layup and got away with it because he was the MVP that year

[@joeshmoe8134]

Lmao……nobody cares, kid.

[@charlesbaker3950]

Honorable Mention: Herro, Barrett, Dort, McCollum, J Murray, Simons, Rozier, Capela, Sexton

[@tj-23]

Hey none of those guys have bad deals. Makes no sense actually

[@Pacoag]

Herro? Lol

[@tj-23]

@@Pacoag he just hates Herro probably lmao

[@benjaminprue4463]

Just wondering if recent nba playoff performances by duncan robinson change the conversation any? 🤔

[@RVK11-lr2no]

S/O to House for drafting Spicy P last year - then sticks it to him by having B2B all-nba calibre seasons 😂

[@ckq]

He fell off this season after a hot start, back to being top 40ish now

[@Islington_Express_Bus]

@@ckq Yeah he probably won't be all-nba but he definitely doesn't belong on a worst contracts list and never did.

[@RVK11-lr2no]

@@ckq true but like Bus said, I didn't agree with him being on the list to begin with. I'm a pistons fan but love his story and watching him play

[@johndebono1870]

@@Islington_Express_Bus He probably doesn't this year, but I think that has more to do with the Raptors' record vs anything Siakim is doing. He definitely is good enough to be in the all-NBA debate.

[@SomeChink]

@@ckq I don’t think there’s 40 players I’d rather have instead of Siakam, he’s definitely spicy enough to be a top 30 player in the league right now

[@allensmith5153]

Every pod should be on KZbin same for RR show

[@brianmcbride6874]

Joe and Wosny have a ton of energy. I watch this in the middle of night when I'm suffering insomnia. Maybe a different channel is better for me.

[@brianmcbride6874]

everyone besides bill is yelling

[@JasonSmith-pe5py]

You mean "the guy who changed the game for all eternity," & "best big man in the game"-according to him & Pat Bev...THE GOAT WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A KAT...2022 PLAY IN CHAMPION,& 2023 PLAY IN RUNNERS UP YALL! F@$K THAT NUGGETS NBA TITLE-KATS THE PLAY IN MASTER!

[@TheJesseGladSaget]

Y'all finally got an HD camera?!? Hooray!

[@pleaserewind295]

They finally read the comments. lol

[@thebasis1704]

We need visual of every pod

[@joemckim1183]

I always found it ridiculous that when the Nets acquired Kyrie and Harden that people were predicting them winning an NBA championship. No way does any team with those 2 knuckleheads ever won a title.

[@silewis9396]

41:12 Jordan Peele segment 😂

[@ZachRoberts7771]

I’ve only ever heard Wos on the ringer and he looks so different than the picture I made up in my mind 😂😂

[@dancingbabybins]

Minnesota could easily trade Gobert for Simmons and get paid in picks to take him. That's basically the only landing spot I can see where both teams feel like they might improve.