How Cavs’ Kevin Love’s deal compares to other bad NBA contracts

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love reportedly signed a four-year extension worth $120.4 million this past July and declined his 2019 player option, according to Spotrac. As a result, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert used this as proof that the team was going to try to compete, but things haven’t worked out that way.

Things clearly have not worked out the way Dan Gilbert and Kevin Love would have hoped as the Cleveland Cavaliers sit with the worst record in the NBA.

Perhaps the most aggravating thing about this deal is it makes it difficult to trade Love, who is already 30 years old, and has struggled to stay healthy. Most contenders who are looking for another piece to put them over the top can’t afford Love and at this point, no team is going to build around Love.

Let’s take a look at some other contracts in the NBA that are among the worst in the league and compare them to Love’s.

Bad Deal #1: Chandler Parsons, F, Memphis Grizzlies

He’s in the third year of a four-year, $94 million deal (per Spotrac).

It is impossible to have a list of bad contracts without including Chandler Parsons and his behemoth four-year, $94 million deal signed in 2016. Like Love, Parsons has dealt with injuries but to a larger extent than Love. Since he signed on to be a Grizzlie, he’s played in just 73 games, putting up just 7.0 points a night on 40.2 percent from the field, and 35.3 percent from three, per Basketball Reference.

Parsons’ contract is most likely the worst in the NBA because even on those select occasions when he is healthy, he hasn’t been a productive player over the past three years. Even with teams’ preference to take expiring contracts, Parsons’ expiring deal next year (worth over $25 million) is a hard sell.

Kevin Love’s contract is more favorable than Parsons for those reasons; Love is still a solid player with a big cap hit. Parsons is a below average player getting paid elite money who can’t stay on the court. In fact, the most notable thing Parsons has done in the past few years was getting roasted by the Portland Trail Blazers’ CJ McCollum on Twitter.

Yikes.