Imagine all teams are starting from scratch with empty rosters (so no issue of need or fit). In some random order, all 30 teams take turns drafting a player and must sign that player to a max contract for 4 years starting from today. So with this thought experiment in mind, let's grade it like so and here are some examples IMHO: A: No-brainer, no-regret, 100% consensus max contract worthy (Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Jokic, etc.) B: Slight regret having to sign this player to max, opinion is ~75% on worthiness (Jaylen Brown) C: Mixed feelings, opinion is ~50% on worthiness (Gobert) D: Significant regret having to sign player to max, opinion is ~25% on worthiness (Bradley Beal) F: 100% consensus unworthy (Ayton) So which players are A-grade max players as of right now under this though experiment? What about grades B to D? And which players are clearly F-grade max players (can only think of Ayton at the moment, perhaps Simmons as well)?
A 3-year contract with only two years guaranteed which makes him tradeable after the first year. A lot of folx are clueless.
like you since in reality he's not even close to max value funny how folks try to bring up the tradeable logic as a crutch. It literally alludes to the fact that you messed up and made a mistake aka not worth it
Not going to go through the trouble of naming players, but in my mind, breaking down the tiers would be something like A ---> lift a team up into contenders almost by themselves. You would have to be a bad gm to put together a bad team with this guy already signed up. B ---> Can be a leading part of a contending team with a lot of help around them. Can keep a team respectable without a ton of help. C ---> Important part to a team. Someone you wouldn't want to lose. But super overpaid for what they do on the court. Can not hold down a team by themself for a significant amount of time. D --> Hopefully the guy was A, B, or C at some point in his career, but now he sucks and is an anchor. F --> Should never be considered for a max contract and any GM who offers it should be fired.
A: Jokic and Giannis B: Embiid, Butler, Kawhi, Curry, Doncic, Davis, LeBron, SGA, Tatum, Durant, Halliburton, Zion, Morant, Adebayo C: Young, Booker, George, Brown, Lillard, Gobert, Siakim, Irving, Towns, Harden, Garland, Mitchell, Ingram, Murray, Fox, Sabonis, Holliday D: Thompson, Beal, Van Fleet, Harris, Porzingis, McCollum, Porter F: LaVine, Simmons, Ayton, Hayward, Paul Didn't check next year's contracts. Those are the players make 30 million or more.
This is close enough to how I feel. I would probably move a few guys from B to A and a few from B to C, but still close enough. The unfortunate part is that you really need A and B level max players to win a championship. If you don't have them or young guys that will develop into them, you might as well just tank because you have zero chance at a title.
It depends on how you define max contract. My understanding is that a max contract is not only about the maximum amount allowed but also the maximum length allowed. If that's the definition, FVV's contract is not really a max.
