To call this a make-or-break season for Nicolas Batum would be wrong. Batum has under performed the past two seasons, but a third consecutive underwhelming season wouldn’t change much because with three years and $72 million remaining on his contract, there’s not a lot that could. If anyone is “breaking” this season, it’s us, the fans who must continue coming to terms with what currently looks like one of the worst contracts in the NBA.
But that’s unfair. After all, “worst contract” titles go to players who can’t even make the floor. Batum is a starting caliber forward who just happened to become a free agent during the summer in which NBA executives handed out bad contracts seemingly every hour.