Test regular question The NBA's max contract, collectively bargained amid the 1998-99 lockout, seems to please almost no one. Elite players are capped beneath their actual value. On the flip side, teams are routinely self-sabotaged by the wrong max-money investments. Our focus lies on the latter. Given the massive amounts of money these deals are worth, almost all were defensible at the time they were signed. But the wrong injury can turn a seemingly shrewd signing into a colossal mistake. We'll go as far back as the NBA does with the "max" label, meaning contracts for the most years, largest salaries and biggest raises possible this side of the '99 lockout. We're also ranking them by negative impact, which is ultimately subjective but compares the return on these investments against their costs.