The San Antonio Spurs just handed star guard De'Aaron Fox a massive new contract extension, and there is a very simple reason as to why it's an overpay they will live to regret: Fox is not a Top-30 player in the NBA.
The maximum contract in the NBA is meant as a mechanism for teams to properly pay the very best players in the league. How it operates in practice, however, is as something of an anchoring point, drawing contract to itself like a magnet. Players who would deserve more are pulled down the max deal, but on the other side of the line, players who don't deserve that much are pulled up to the max.