Every summer, a handful of newly signed NBA contracts draw a collective head scratch.

With the cap spike of 2016 still fairly fresh, plenty of puzzling pacts from then remain on the books. But that offseason doesn't have a monopoly on baffling deals.

Scour the list of player salaries and you're bound to find many that never made much sense. Even the explanations given when the agreements were made held little weight.

What follows are 10 such contracts. These aren't necessarily the worst deals in the NBA. Some of those become so as a result of injuries or other misfortunes. These are 10 that were almost impossible to wrap your head around from day one.

Before we get into it, though, it should be said that all the individual players listed here deserve respect for earning massive paydays. Plenty of hard work certainly went into their games before they received these contracts.

Sam Amick, Senior NBA writer for The Athletic, joins "The Full 48" to discuss top team moves before the trade deadline, teams in most need of deals, players that may move and All-Star Game ballot selections.

'Honorable' Mentions

LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs signed LaMarcus Aldridge to a two-year, $50 million extension after their title window had closed and LMA had just posted a negative net rating swing in his age-31 season.

Pivoting to a rebuild probably would have made more sense.

Terry Rozier, Charlotte Hornets

There's time for Terry Rozier to prove his critics wrong, but $56.7 million over three years for a player with a below-average box plus/minus and a way below-average true shooting percentage was beyond bold.

Kent Bazemore, Portland Trail Blazers

Kent Bazemore had an OK season in 2015-16, averaging 11.6 points and shooting 35.7 percent from three. At age 26, it was the first time he'd finished a season above average in BPM.

But "OK" and "above average" aren't typically the kinds of descriptors that lead to a four-year, $70 million deal, which was originally given by the Atlanta Hawks but is now on the Blazers' books.

Tyler Johnson, Phoenix Suns

An undrafted free agent who averaged 8.7 points and shot 38.0 percent from three in Year 2, 6'3" guard Tyler Johnson scored a four-year, $50 million offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets in 2016. The Miami Heat matched it, though he's since been traded to the Suns.

That's an awfully big commitment for a largely unproven guard.

Evan Turner, Atlanta Hawks

Evan Turner was coming off an intriguing two-year run as a reserve point forward for the Boston Celtics when he signed a four-year, $70 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2016.

His career BPM pegged him as a replacement-level player up to that point, though. His shooting efficiency was abysmal, and that hasn't changed during the final year of his deal, now with the Hawks.

Bobby Portis, New York Knicks

It may end up only being a one-year deal (the second is a team option), but $15 million per season for Bobby Portis was a wild call by the New York Knicks.

In four seasons prior to signing this contract, he was a replacement-level player with a well-below-average true shooting percentage.

DeAndre Jordan, Brooklyn Nets

In the two seasons prior to this one, DeAndre Jordan appeared to be on a decline. He wasn't finishing with the same explosiveness he once did, and his block rate had tailed off significantly.

The annual salary of $10 million isn't too problematic. But four years? Jordan will be 34 by the time this contract is over. Expecting him to be worth that salary by that point is optimistic.

It pays to have friends who are great NBA players.

Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas Mavericks

Tim Hardaway Jr. looked like a decent 2 after the 2016-17 season. He averaged 14.5 points and 1.9 threes for the Hawks with an above-average true shooting percentage and a just-below-average BPM.

But again, those aren't the kinds of numbers that scream for a big contract, and the Knicks signed him to a four-year, $71 million pact in 2017 before trading him to Dallas in January 2019.

Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings

Harrison Barnes has had one season with an above-average BPM, and that was all the way back in 2014-15.

In the three seasons immediately preceding his 2019 extension, he was below replacement level and had a minus-2.8 net rating swing.

Barnes doesn't do a lot beyond scoring. His rebounding, assist, steal and block rates are all below average. Ditto for his true shooting percentage.

And the Sacramento Kings gave him $85 million over four years.

To be fair, the deal is declining, going from $24.1 million (20 percent of the cap) this season to $18.4 million in 2022-23. As the cap keeps going up, that last number will look better and better.

But right now, Sacramento is paying a below-average scorer who doesn't produce in many other areas like a leading man. Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that last season's feel-good story is currently outside the playoff picture.

Bismack Biyombo, Charlotte Hornets

You can't teach size, as coaches are wont to say. And in the absence of many discernible skills, plenty of NBA players have gotten paid on size and size alone.

At 6'8" and 255 pounds, Bismack Biyombo is a prime example.

Following the 2015-16 season, Biyombo had career averages of 4.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 0.3 assists and 0.3 steals. The rebounds and blocks were decent given his lack of playing time.

But decent enough for $70 million over four years from the Orlando Magic? That was one of those summer 2016 deals that led to instant sticker shock.

"The Magic already figured to have spacing problems before signing Biyombo, and this deal compounds them," Bleacher Report's Jared Dubin wrote in the wake of the deal.

In Orlando's defense, Biyombo had just come off a playoff run with the Toronto Raptors that generated some buzz. But throwing a bunch of money at a playoff performance is dangerous, and the coverage of this particular playoff performance may have been overblown at the time.

Biyombo was barely above average in BPM that postseason. His rebounding and block rates weren't astronomical, and he had more turnovers than assists and steals combined.

Two years after signing him, the Magic traded him to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a three-team deal that saw them take on Timofey Mozgov as a salary dump.

Biyombo's BPM during the four seasons under this contract has been around replacement level and marginally better than what he did leading up to the signing.

Allen Crabbe, Atlanta Hawks

If you look at this one from the perspective of the team that actually offered the deal, it made some sense—but mostly as sort of a troll.

Back in 2016, the Brooklyn Nets were in position to throw some wild offers out to restricted free agents. They weren't going to be contenders for a while, so the gamble was fine. And if the offers were matched, they could take some devious satisfaction from tying up a rival's books.

The Portland Trail Blazers took the bait here.

Crabbe was coming off a season in which he averaged double figures and shot 39.3 percent from three. He was still relatively young (24) and had decent wing size (6'5", 212 lbs). But if you dig any deeper, $74.8 million over four years looked like a wild overpay.

Crabbe was 334th in ESPN's real plus-minus in 2015-16, thanks to a minus-2.58 defensive real plus-minus. Over his first three seasons in Portland, the Blazers' net rating was 3.1 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor.

Crabbe scored a little bit, but he brought almost nothing else to games. And his three-point shooting wasn't the kind of game-changing skill it is for high-volume, lights-out marksmen like this season's Duncan Robinson or Davis Bertans.

Brooklyn eventually bailed Portland out and traded for the contract it initially offered to Crabbe, but he couldn't stick there, either. He's now playing out the last year of the deal for the Atlanta Hawks, where he sports a net rating swing that ranks in the 8th percentile.

Cristiano Felício, Chicago Bulls

By the summer of 2017, Chicago Bulls big man Cristiano Felicio had logged a total of 1,361 minutes over two seasons. His averages of 11.7 points, 11.5 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per 75 possessions were fine, though not eyebrow-raising.

His BPM was above average, but it came in such a limited role for a mediocre team that it would have been hard to glean much from it. At least, it would've been hard for those of us outside the organization to glean much from it.

The Bulls themselves must've loved what they'd seen from Felicio. They signed him to a four-year, $32 million deal in July 2017.

Fast forward to 2020 and Felicio has played more minutes for Chicago's G League affiliate than he has for the parent club this season.

Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers

Kevin Love had a solid 2017-18 campaign.

He averaged 17.6 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 41.5 percent from three. But his defensive limitations were problematic, especially as opposing 4s became increasingly mobile. He was 82nd in BPM among all qualified players.

Again, solid. Not spectacular. Not No. 1-guy level. Certainly nowhere near the level of production a healthy, 25-year-old Love put up in his final season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And those numbers came during a season in which Love appeared in 59 games. During the previous campaign, he only played in 60.

So, naturally, the Cleveland Cavaliers offered $120.4 million over four years to a player who wasn't evolving as fast as the game, had injury concerns and was entering his age-31 season. Oh, and there's one more little detail you may have remembered: The summer of 2018 was when LeBron James left his hometown Cavs for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Maybe Cleveland told itself it'd be able to trade Love. Maybe it still can. But just getting some cap relief might be the best-case scenario for the Cavs here. It's hard to imagine many teams lining up to send young players or picks for Love and the $91.5 million over three years he has left after this season.

Timofey Mozgov, Orlando Magic...Sort of

The summer of 2016 strikes again.

In the wee hours of the morn on July 1, 2016, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak took a run at Timofey Mozgov. He offered an absurd contract worth $64 million over four years, seemingly bidding against no one.

As noted by Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver, Mozgov was coming off a season in which he ranked 75th out of 76 centers in ESPN's real plus-minus. He had just averaged a whopping 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds. The Cleveland Cavaliers' net rating was 9.4 points per 100 possessions worse with Mozgov on the floor, a swing that ranked in the 12th percentile that season.

"It's funny there are people going 'yeah that's the going rate and market for Timofey Mozgov in this climate,'" The Athletic's Sam Vecenie wrote. "No, it's not. It's a bad deal."

Since then, Mozgov has played just 85 games and posted minus-1.6 wins over replacement player. He's technically been on four NBA teams during the contract (the Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic), though he only played in games for two.

In July 2019, he was waived by the Magic using the collective bargaining agreement's stretch provision. He still counts as a current contract since Orlando will pay him nearly $5.6 million per season through 2022, though he now plays for BC Khimki of the VTB United League in Russia. 

Chandler Parsons, Atlanta Hawks

There was a lot to like about Chandler Parsons' game leading up to the four-year, $94.4 million deal he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2016.

He was a 6'9" wing who'd shown a little playmaking ability and shot 41.6 percent from three for the Dallas Mavericks in 2015-16. Over his first five seasons, only four players matched or exceeded his averages for points, rebounds, assists and threes per 75 possessions.

But Memphis should have been far more wary of Parsons' potential durability issues.

In the two seasons immediately preceding the deal with the Grizzlies, Parsons appeared in 127 of a possible 164 games. And about a year before the contract was signed, ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported that a mysterious Parsons surgery was a "minor hybrid microfracture" procedure.

A handful of NBA players have had some form of this treatment, and the results have been terrible for plenty of them. Amar'e Stoudemire, Anfernee Hardaway and Greg Oden are a few who were never able to come all the way back.

In 2018, the Chicago Tribune's Malika Andrews shared that a "2018 study found that the failure rate of microfracture surgery was 66 percent..."

Of course, that study came out after the Grizzlies signed Parsons. But just a quick look at the surgery's track record with NBA players should have given them pause. Throwing caution to the wind, Memphis instead inked him to a contract that wound up being a salary-cap disaster.

Prior to this season, Parsons had appeared in fewer than 40 percent of the Grizzlies' games. Among the 353 players with at least as many minutes in that span, his BPM ranked 328th.

Memphis was able to salary-dump Parsons to the Atlanta Hawks this past summer. Unfortunately, he's only managed to play in five games this season.

Miles Plumlee, Memphis Grizzlies...Sort of

After the dust settled on the deals for Timofey Mozgov and Bismack Biyombo, the Milwaukee Bucks committed $50 million over four years to Miles Plumlee in the summer of 2016.

Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine tried to make sense of the deal:

"The decision by Bucks general manager John Hammond and assistant GM Justin Zanik to lock Plumlee up seems a bit curious given Milwaukee's commitments last summer to centers Greg Monroe and John Henson, and the presence of prized power forward Jabari Parker.

"Add to that mix gunning stretch four Mirza Teletovic and 7-foot-1 first-round draft pick Thon Maker, and suddenly the Bucks' frontcourt looks awfully crowded and pretty expensive."

Plumlee was coming off a 5.1-point, 3.8-rebound campaign. He was in the red in BPM and net rating swing. He had a career free-throw percentage of 55.2.

As Devine wrote, committing that level of production to a roster already loaded with bigs was indeed "curious."

Like Mozgov, Plumlee isn't even in the NBA anymore. Just this month, he signed with the Australian NBL's Perth Wildcats. But that NBA money is often fully guaranteed. And after a handful of trades, the Memphis Grizzlies are the losers of this high-stakes game of hot potato. They're on the hook for the last $12.5 million of Plumlee's deal.

Dion Waiters, Miami Heat

In the best season of Dion Waiters' career (2016-17), he posted a below-average BPM and a true shooting percentage that was 4.5 points below average. His career numbers through the end of that campaign (right before the big payday) were 13.2 points and 2.7 assists per game with a 49.1 true shooting percentage.

For some context, among the 327 players with at least 1,000 shot attempts over that span, that true shooting percentage ranked 310th.

On top of the woeful inefficiency, Waiters' teams were outscoring opponents by 0.3 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, as opposed to 1.3 when he was off.

And even with all that evidence stacked against him, the Miami Heat saw fit to sign Waiters to a four-year, $52 million deal in the summer of 2017.

Somehow, it's gone even worse than you might've expected. 

In the first two seasons of the contract, Waiters' BPM ranks 252nd out of the 272 players with at least 2,000 minutes. This season, he has more suspensions (three) than minutes (zero).

Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves

Let's start with the positives on the Andrew Wiggins extension. When he signed his max deal for five years and $147.7 million in October 2017, he was coming off just his third NBA season. He had a career scoring average over 20 points.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony were the only players in NBA history who poured in more total points through an age-21 season. And perhaps most importantly, the Minnesota Timberwolves' net rating was 2.6 points per 100 possessions better with Wiggins on the floor.

But there were some pretty clear warning signs, and the max extension was seen by many as a massive overpay.

"Most execs I've chatted with don't think too highly of Wiggins," The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor wrote at the time. "One executive said to me a few months ago that the Wolves wing doesn't defend, pass, or rebound, and he's an inefficient scorer. He's not worth this much, the executive said."

They were right.

Among the 376 players who'd logged at least 1,500 minutes over the course of Wiggins' first three seasons, his defensive box plus/minus (a problematic number, by Basketball Reference's own admission) ranked 352nd. His rebounding, assist, steal and block percentages were all below the league average for individual players.

The one thing Wiggins seemingly did well was score. But even that was probably fool's gold. He played for a team that allowed him to use over a quarter of his team's possessions, and his true shooting percentage of 53.2 fell shy of the 54.3 percent league average.

High usage, below-average efficiency and very few ancillary contributions makes for a dangerous combination. The Timberwolves signed up for five more years of it—and at the maximum possible salary.

Perhaps there was some thought that he'd grow into the deal, but that was a big gamble that hasn't paid off. His pre-extension BPM was minus-2.4. His post-extension BPM is...minus-2.4.

All stats, unless otherwise indicated, courtesy of Basketball Reference, NBA.com, PBPStats.com or Cleaning the Glass and current heading into games on Tuesday.