The most overpaid players in NBA history

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Seasons overpaid vs. underpaid: 5-3
Real Value: $88,836,961
Career earnings: $163,525,665
Difference: -$74,688,704 (-45.67 percent)

Former No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons probably wouldn’t be on this list if he had just remained on the trajectory he was on early in his career. After all, over his first four seasons, Simmons made three All-Star appearances, won Rookie of the Year, made a 3rd Team All-NBA and even got MVP votes in 2020-21.

Considering Simmons was on his rookie-scale contract for most of that stretch, the Australian point guard was actually severely underpaid early in his career, peaking in 2019-20 when Real Value believes he was underpaid by $15.8 million.

It’s been downhill since, obviously, as Simmons missed all of 2021-22 due to injury. Since then, the former LSU Tiger has played in just 57 games while averaging merely 6.7 points. Over those three seasons combined, Simmons has earned a total of roughly $106.4 million, which explains his place in this ranking pretty succinctly.

Simmons is reportedly heading into this upcoming season fully healthy, though, and his team, the Brooklyn Nets, isn’t exactly loaded with talent right now, so who knows? Maybe we’ll see vintage Simmons coming up and he’ll perform somewhat closer to his contract value.

For more of Ben Simmons’ career salary info, click here.