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NBA free agency: Each team’s worst signing in franchise history

By Josh Cornelissen

Eddy Curry, New York Knicks, Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Eddy Curry, New York Knicks, Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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Bismack Biyombo, Orlando Magic
Bismack Biyombo, Orlando Magic. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Worst free agent signing in Orlando Magic history: Bismack Biyombo

4 years, $72 million

Teams do peculiar things when given the opportunity to add talent, especially when that window will close if they don’t make a move. That led to a number of teams making gross overpays in the summer of 2016 when the cap made a one-time spike. One team tricked into backing up the Brink’s truck was the Orlando Magic.

The team likely sat at home during the playoffs and watched the Toronto Raptors get two games from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Earlier in the postseason, the Raptors lost starting center Jonas Valanciunas, thrusting Congolese backup Bismack Biyombo into the spotlight.

Biyombo responded in a huge way, tallying double-doubles, as the Raptors won their first two series in seven games each. Against the Cavaliers, though, Biyombo had his signature moment.

In Game 3 in Toronto, the big man pulled down a franchise-playoff-record 26 rebounds and smothered the Cavaliers on defense. He was important in the Raptors’ Game 4 win as well.

Enamored with what they saw, and eager to get players to help them compete in the postseason, the Magic turned to Biyombo when their top free agent targets looked elsewhere. After making just $2.8 million in Toronto in 2015-16, he signed a four-year, $72 million contract.

Never able to recapture the magic (sorry) of that playoff run, Biyombo settled in as the role player he was — a role that continued to be marginalized in the modern NBA. After two years, the team swapped him for another overpaid center, moving him to the Charlotte Hornets in return for Timofey Mozgov. The bad-contract carousel continued.