With less than a month to go before the 2025 NBA trade deadline, we're officially in trade, rumor and contract evaluation season.

Now and the offseason have long been prime windows to look at what individual NBA players are making and compare that to how valuable (or detrimental) they are to their teams.

When analyzing whether a contract is good, several factors come into play. Age is important. Health history is huge. The length of the contract and the average annual value are obviously key, too. But one thing is unavoidable, and that's subjectivity.

So, with all of the above in mind, and while omitting both rookie contracts (whose values are determined by the league) and the league's very best players (Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander obviously provide more value than their contracts suggest, but we're operating in a world with salary caps and max deals), here are the five best and five worst contracts in the NBA right now.

Fifth-Worst: Zach LaVine

Three years (counting this season), $138 million (with a player option in 2026-27)

I'll preface this by saying Zach LaVine's contract already looks better than it did prior to the start of this young season.

He's played in 32 of the Chicago Bulls' 37 games. He's averaging 23.3 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 threes while shooting 44.4 percent from deep. And his team's point differential per 100 possessions is far better when he's on the floor.

At the very least, this past offseason's talk of Chicago needing to attach a first to LaVine in trade talks should probably be over.

But this is still an onerous deal. His 2024-25 salary is tied with Luka Dončić for the 17th-highest in the league. His contract runs through 2026-27 (when he has a $49 million player option.

And thanks in large part to his below-average defense, LaVine hasn't even played like a top-50 player this season.

Given his age (30 in March) and injury history, it's hard to imagine he'll start playing like a top 20-30 player during the life of this contract.

Fifth-Best: Jarrett Allen

Five years, $130.7 million

Jarrett Allen is the defensive anchor (or at least one of two defensive anchors) of a historically stout team that's on pace for 73 wins.

He's impacting games like a top-20 player. And he's providing that impact without commanding a ton of touches or time of possession from higher-usage stars like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Since he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers four-and-a-half seasons ago, he's averaged 15.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting 64.9 percent from the field.

And he's doing all of that on a contract that ranks outside the top 70 in average annual salary.

Fourth-Worst: Jaylen Brown

Five years, $288 million

This one might be a little controversial. And it's not even a suggestion that the Boston Celtics shouldn't have given him the extension they did.

He's a crucial part of a core that just won the championship. He was the 2024 Finals MVP (even if some numbers suggested it should've been Jayson Tatum). He's smack-dab in the middle of his prime. He's averaged at least 20 points in each of the last six seasons.

And perhaps most importantly, had Boston not extended him, it might eventually lose him without a realistic way of replacing him (thanks to the salary cap and the current collective bargaining agreement).

But this exercise is strictly about value provided versus contract burden. And Brown's current contract makes him the sixth-highest-paid player in the league this season.

He is not now, nor has he ever been, close to being the sixth-best player in the NBA. At 28 years old, it's not likely he'll become a top-10 player before 2029, when his contract expires.

His 2024-25 production actually puts him in the top 50-60 range. His three-point percentage is well below average. And, as has been the case for years, his assist-to-turnover ratio is a very real concern.

Brown is a good, probably even great, NBA player. But he's not the top-10 (or -20 or -30) player his contract suggests he is.

Fourth-Best: Austin Reaves

Three years, $41.8 million (with a player option in 2026-27)

It seemed bonkers in the moment, but no competitor offering Austin Reaves a competitive contract in restricted free agency was a massive coup for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Reaves is only 26 years old. He's the third-best offensive player on a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He's averaging 18.3 points, 5.9 assists and 2.6 threes.

And his average annual salary ranks outside the top 130 of current NBA contracts.

He's outperforming his salary now and almost certainly will in each of the next two seasons (although Reaves picking up that player option feels pretty unlikely right now).

Third-Worst: Kawhi Leonard

Three years, $149.5 million

This one is a little less about how Kawhi Leonard plays when he's available and a lot more about how rarely he's, well, available.

Kawhi hasn't been healthy by the end of a Los Angeles Clippers playoff run since 2020, when his team coughed up a 3-1 lead to the young Denver Nuggets. He's only appeared in two games this season. He turns 34 this summer.

And a degenerative knee condition that may have contributed to his average of fewer than 40 games per season over the last eight years isn't likely to improve as he enters his mid-30s.

So, even if Kawhi can still give us glimpses of top 5-10 level impact, he's become impossible to rely on.

Third-Best: Cameron Johnson

Three years, $65.5 million

With Mikal Bridges traded to the New York Knicks this past offseason and Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith unloaded as well, Cameron Johnson has had a chance to show a bit more of his game in 2024-25.

The 6'8", soon-to-be-29-year-old forward is averaging 19.5 points, 3.3 threes and a career-high 3.0 assists while shooting 43.6 percent from deep.

He's not known as a lockdown defender, but his size and awareness make him solid on that end. And he's already shown an ability to scale his offensive game up or down, depending on what his team needs.

He's arguably been a top 50-60 player this season, but his average annual salary barely ranks in the top 90 of current contracts.

Second-Worst: Jerami Grant

Four years, $132.4 million (with a player option in 2027-28)

Jerami Grant's current contract was a head-scratcher the moment he signed it, but it became a full-blown albatross when Damian Lillard was traded shortly after he secured it.

Grant is being paid like a top 50-60 player, but he's not even performing like a starter.

Grant will be 31 in March, and he's averaging 15.0 points on 38.2 percent shooting. He's been a below-average rebounder his entire career. He doesn't do much as a distributor. And he's not as good a defender as his three-and-D-friendly frame suggests he should be.

Of course, as is the case with every current contract in the league, this one will be easier to manage as the salary cap goes up, but it's hard to imagine many potential trade suitors signing up for it right now.

Second-Best: Jaren Jackson Jr.

Two years, $48.7 million

Jaren Jackson Jr. has quietly been the most impactful player on the Memphis Grizzlies, who are currently third in the West.

He's only missed two games this season (the first two) and is averaging 22.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.8 threes and 1.5 steals.

He has an All-Star case and might even have a sneaky All-NBA one. And his average annual salary barely ranks in the top 80.

Add the fact that JJJ is only 25, and it's easy to see how this is one of the most valuable contracts in the NBA right now.

Worst: Bradley Beal

Three years, $161 million (with a player option in 2026-27 and a no-trade clause)

There probably isn't a ton of debate on this one.

Bradley Beal turns 32 this offseason. He's been a defensive liability for years. His 2024-25 production suggests he's barely a top-200 player, but his $50.2 million salary ranks fifth in the league, behind only those of Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokić and teammate Kevin Durant.

Again, this isn't to suggest Beal is bad. There's just no world in which he's one of the 5-10 best players in the NBA.

The cherry on top, though, has to be the no-trade clause. That particular provision is almost a relic of the past, but Beal has one. He and LeBron James are the only two players in the league who have that written into their contracts.

So, even if the Phoenix Suns could find someone to take Beal's money and years off their hands, he'd have to OK it.

His contract is, perhaps without much debate, the worst value in the NBA right now.

Best: Jalen Brunson

Five years, $181.5 million (with a player option in 2028-29)

Jalen Brunson finished fifth in MVP voting last season. And when he signed his way-below-max extension with the New York Knicks this past summer, it instantly became the best value deal in the league (outside of the contracts for super-duperstars like Jokić, SGA, Giannis Antetokounmpo, etc.).

The 28-year-old point guard's average annual salary ranks outside the top 40, but he's once again playing well enough to receive All-NBA consideration.

Now nearly halfway through the season, and despite accommodating recent acquisitions Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, Brunson is averaging 25.0 points, 7.6 assists and 2.3 threes while shooting 38.6 percent from deep.

He's still one of the best offensive engines in the NBA, and his average annual salary is less than Scottie Barnes', Fred VanVleet's and teammate OG Anunoby's, just to name a few.

He did the New York Knicks a colossal favor when he signed this extension.

Stats up to date entering Friday's games.