Only in the NBA can you be the fifth best player on your team at best, miss 142 games (regular season and playoffs), fail to help your team win a championship — the stated reason you joined the team — see a decline in your job performance and the passing of your prime years, suffer a serious leg injury — and then be offered a fat pay raise.
Not only was Gordon Hayward awarded $96 million more in total money by the Charlotte Hornets, he was given a four-year deal worth $120 million, fully guaranteed, and all of this while NBA revenues are nosediving due to the pandemic and the China backlash, both of which will require players to take substantial pay cuts across the board.