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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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Nicolas Batum, Charlotte Hornets
Nicolas Batum, Charlotte Hornets. (Photo by Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Worst free agent signing in Charlotte Hornets history: Nicolas Batum

5 years, $120 million

The Charlotte Hornets — and the Bobcats, for that matter — have struggled throughout their short history to sustain success of any kind. Those moments where they capture lightning in a bottle and make a playoff run tend to end before they really get going.

Since the franchise “restarted” back in 2004, they have made the playoffs just three times, never winning a series, nor returning to the postseason in back-to-back years.

At the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, after their most recent playoff run, the Hornets wanted to sustain that success. That team won 48 games under head coach Steve Clifford, their most since 1999-00, and lost in seven games to the Miami Heat. The team decided to bring back the gang as much as possible.

That included a massive contract offer to Nicolas Batum, a versatile wing acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers prior to the season. In 70 games for the Hornets he averaged 14.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, unequivocally a part of the team’s strong season.

Yet due to the cap spike hitting the same summer as his free agency, the price to keep Batum was higher than it may have been just one year earlier. Other teams were rumored to be out there and ready to make an offer, forcing Charlotte’s hand. They ended up offering Batum a five-year, $120 million deal to stick around.

The fall for Batum has not been kind, to him or to Charlotte. The first year of the contract he was available and productive, putting up almost identical numbers (albeit on worse efficiency). In 2017-18, he battled injuries and ineffectiveness. By last season, he was averaging just 9.3 points and 3.3 assists per game, hardly the needed impact of a player making over $25 million.

Batum still has two years on his deal, tying up the cap space this team needs to stay competitive. If they commit to a rebuild (likely spurred on by Kemba Walker leaving in free agency) then Batum is an aging veteran on a bloated contract slowing them down.

If they try to reload around Walker, then Batum is blocking the way even more. Unless he can recover his former level of play, this deal will go down as the worst signing in team history.