Los Angeles Lakers: 3 worst contracts heading into 2017-18 season

Jordan Clarkson, SG

Contract details: 3 years, $37.5 million ($11.5 million in 2017-18)

Don’t get me wrong here — Jordan Clarkson is going to be a huge asset for the Lakers this season. Even with Ball and Caldwell-Pope locked in as the starting backcourt, we’ll get a hearty helping of Clarkson as the top guard off the bench.

Folks seem to focus on the contracts handed out to Mozgov and Luol Deng as the lowlights of the last regime. However, it’s often overlooked that Clarkson also received a rather overpriced deal of sorts. While there’s no denying he deserved a pay day, I’m not sure $12.5 million per year was warranted.

What’s worse is it’s going to hurt the Lakers at some point between now and next offseason. Whether it means they don’t have the cap space for key role players or they can’t re-sign someone like Julius Randle, Clarkson’s numbers will prove restrictive.

Again, I’m not saying Clarkson isn’t a valuable asset for Los Angeles. I’m sure he’ll kill it coming off the bench this year. At this point, he may even be one of the better sixth men in the NBA. I just don’t believe he’s worth the amount of dough he’s going to gobble up in 2017-18.

You recall the list of players making less than Brewer? The same concept applies here, except Clarkson is making $4 million more than Brewer this year and still has two years left on his deal.