Retired NBA Players Still Getting Paid By Their Old Teams

This article was originally published on August 15, 2021.

Imagine being paid millions of dollars to stay at home and do nothing. That’s the reality for a lot of former players who were waived but have continued to receive pay checks well into retirement thanks to their contracts being guaranteed. Here are the retired NBA players still getting paid by their old teams:

MONTA ELLIS

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: Indiana Pacers

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 4 years, $44 million

MONEY OWED AFTER GETTING WAIVED: $11 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 5

FUN FACT: Within the space of five years, Monta Ellis went from having devastated Warriors fans furious that the team traded him away, to having Pacers management paying him to go away.

LARRY SANDERS

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: Milwaukee Bucks

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 4 years, $44 million (2013)

MONEY OWED AFTER GETTING WAIVED/LEAVING MILWAUKEE: $9.3 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 7 years without playing for the Bucks, 5 years without playing at all

NOT AT ALL FUN FACT: As it turns out, Jason Kidd’s horrendous behaviour appears to be a big reason why Sanders’ career was over at age 26.

CHRIS BOSH

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: Miami Heat

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 5 years, $118M (2014)

MONEY OWED AFTER RETIRING: $52 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 6

TIMOFEY MOZGOV

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: Orlando Magic

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 4 years, $64 (July 2016)

MONEY OWED AFTER LEAVING ORLANDO: $16.7 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 4

FUN FACT: Lakers GM at the time, Mitch Kupchak, signed Deng and Mozgov to their respective hideous deals on consecutive days. $136 million down the drain just like that.

KEVIN GARNETT

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: Boston Celtics

MONEY OWED AFTER RETIRING: $35 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2022-23

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 7

FUN FACT: Garnett is another one of many retired NBA players still getting paid, but his case is a little different. When Garnett was with the Celtics, he asked to be paid $35 million over seven years in deferred salary following his retirement. The team agreed, and KG is still cashing checks to this day.

JOAKIM NOAH

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: New York Knicks

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 4 years, $72 million (July 2016)

MONEY OWED AFTER LEAVING NEW YORK: $37.8 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 4 years without playing for the Knicks, 2 years without playing at all

FUN FACT: Noah was the Knicks’ third-highest paid player in 2020-21, two years after he had left the team.

BONUS FUN FACT: The Knicks made the same mistake with Noah that the Lakers made with Deng: signing a former Bull who Tom Thibodeau had already run into the ground.

LUOL DENG

TEAM STILL PAYING HIM: LA Lakers

ORIGINAL CONTRACT: 4 years, $72 million (July 2016)

MONEY OWED AFTER LEAVING LA: $20 million

PAID UNTIL: End of 2021-22

YEARS PAID WITHOUT PLAYING: 5 years

FUN FACT: Deng only ever played 57 games for the Lakers, and yet they paid him (sorry, are paying him) $72 million in total. That averages out at $1.26 million per game. If you paid someone at that rate across an entire 82-game season, you would have forked out $103.58 million. Point is, the Lakers messed up.