On Sunday, we examined this offseason’s top 10 free agent deals in terms of average annual value. That list included players like Kevin Durant and J.J. Redick, who signed short-term deals but will earn more money during the 2017/18 season than all but a handful of this year’s free agent signees.
In terms of overall guaranteed money though, those deals for Durant and Redick don’t rank among this summer’s top 10. All of the new contracts that include the most total guaranteed money are multiyear pacts, with many of them running for four or five years.
This year’s top 10 free agent contracts in terms of total guaranteed money are listed below, with the help of our Free Agent Tracker and salary information from Basketball Insiders.
Our numbers below incorporate player options, but not team options or non-guaranteed salary. The thinking: If a team waives a player before the end of his contract, he’s guaranteed to receive his player-option salary, but not team-option or non-guaranteed money. Players whose contracts include final-year player options are marked with an asterisk.
Here’s the top 10:
- Stephen Curry (Warriors): $201,158,790 (five years)
- Blake Griffin (Clippers): $171,174,820 (five years)*
- Jrue Holiday (Pelicans): $131,100,000 (five years)*
- Gordon Hayward (Celtics): $127,829,970 (four years)*
- Otto Porter (Wizards): $106,524,978 (four years)*
- Kyle Lowry (Raptors): $93,000,000 (three years)
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (Knicks): $70,950,000 (four years)*
- Serge Ibaka (Raptors): $65,000,000 (three years)
- Danilo Gallinari (Clippers): $64,762,737 (three years)
- Paul Millsap (Nuggets): $61,000,000 (two years) — Third year is team option
As was the case in our list of top 10 free agent deals by annual value, Curry sits at No. 1, and his overall guarantee really hammers home how massive his new deal is. While Curry’s new deal tops $200MM, only four other free agents signed for more than $100MM in guaranteed money, and the gap between Curry’s contract and the 10th-biggest deal exceeds $140MM.
It’s also worth noting that leading up to free agency, there was a belief that maximum salary contracts would be prevalent, with players like Holiday, Lowry, Millsap, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all viewed as candidates to sign for the max. Ultimately, only Curry, Hayward, and Porter got true maximum salary contracts — Griffin’s deal fell a little short, while players like Lowry, Millsap, and Caldwell-Pope couldn’t even get the max on shorter-term pacts.