Sacramento Kings division enemy negotiates one of worst contracts of the 2024 offseason

NBA free agency isn't just about landing the best possible players. It's also about signing them at a reasonable rate. But what constitutes as "reasonable?"

In a recent article I did for Forbes, I used a method for projecting production value (a player's Estimated Wins multiplied by the amount a win will cost in 2024-25 – 3.4 million dollars). As I discuss in that piece, this calculation is far from perfect. However, it does provide a framework for analysis, which, as any individual involved in negotiating contracts will tell you, is a major part of the equation.

Anyway, this exercise produced some interesting results. Ironically enough, six of the seven worst contracts that have been handed out up to this point came from teams in the Eastern Conference (the conference that is largely viewed as the inferior one).

The only Western Conference team to hand out a top seven worst contract is the Sacramento Kings' division rival: the Los Angeles Lakers (who the Kings were a perfect 4-0 against last year).

This wasn't the contract they gave to the 39-year-old LeBron James. Instead, it was the four-year, 32-million dollar deal they agreed to with Max Christie (per Spotrac). According to Dunks & Threes, Christie posted an EW (Estimated Wins) that was in the negatives (-1.1), meaning Christie not only wasn't adding wins, but he was a net negative to his team last year.

Now, as I've mentioned already, this isn't an end-all-be-all. I, for one, think Christie has the chance to develop into a solid role player (if that happens, he'd be more than worth the eight million dollars per year he's going to make over the next four years). It's just that this formula doesn't think his past production warrants the money he has coming his way (it's a good thing Christie is still young and still has a ton of room for improvement).

This Formula Doesn't Like Malik Monk, But It Loves LeBron James

Speaking of contracts that didn't fare well in this exercise, the eighth-worst contract signed this offseason was the extension the Kings gave to Malik Monk (four years, 76 million dollars). Based on his EW, Monk should be making 9.9 million dollars next year (9.6 less than the average annual value of his contract).

This is fascinating, especially considering many believe Monk took a pay cut to remain with the Kings. Some of this disparity can be explained by the limitations of the formula (read my article to learn more about that), while part of it can be chalked up to his end-of-season injury hindering his ability to add to his EW total. However, this also could just be an indictment that Monk's player archetype (non-star combo guard) isn't "worth" all that much. As is the case with most things in life, the true answer to this question is probably somewhere in the middle.

This formula does love James, though. It thinks James should make 51.7 million dollars in 2024-25, which is one million more than the average annual value on his latest contract.

(Sidebar: If you want to see how all 72 of the new contracts that were signed this offseason fared under the scrutiny of this formula, here is a link to all of that here.)