Charlotte Hornets — Gordon Hayward
2023 Salary: $30,075,000
Much of Hayward’s career sits in the hypothetical. What if the didn’t suffer that gruesome foot injury?. What if he played with better pieces around him? What if he played with a better franchise?
Hayward is being paid like a No. 1 or No. 2 option, and the fact is he hasn’t been that since his Utah days. The injury he suffered in Boston derailed his career. Hayward still can be productive when he plays. The problem is, the 33-year-old hasn’t played more than 52 games in a single season since 2018. Paying someone over $30 million annually for roughly half of the regular season doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
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