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Writer's pictureDominic Konareski

The Worst Contract In New York Knicks History

On July 8th, 2016, the New York Knicks signed Joakim Noah to a 4-year/$72M contract. Right away many considered it to be a questionable contract money-wise, nevertheless Noah was going to his hometown team.


Up to the 2015/16 offseason, Joakim Noah was a 9-year vet, playing 572 games with the Chicago Bulls while averaging 9.3 points-per-game in an average 27-minute span.


Joakim Noah was considered to be one of the top centers in the NBA, that narrative stood tall despite having injuries play a big role in missed time.

When Noah joined the Knicks he was fresh off of a left shoulder stabilization surgery that saw him sidelined for six months.


In February of 2017, in the midst of his freshman year with the Knicks, it was reported that Noah would need a left knee arthroscopy to remove a loose body. It would leave him on the bench and was subsequently ruled out for at least three to four weeks.


To make matters worse in missed playing time, Joakim Noah was suspended 20 games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Because of a left-knee injury it was expected that Noah would miss the Knicks’ final 10 games anyway.


In year one with the Knicks, Joakim Noah appeared in 46 games, all of which he started in, with 5.0 PPG, 8.8 TRB in a 22-minute average.


On April 12, 2017, it was deemed that Noah required surgery for a left torn rotator cuff and would need four to six months to rehabilitate.


On November 27, 2017, the Knicks activated Noah and gave him his first playing time since February. Noah entered the Knicks' contest against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second quarter and had a three-minute stint, making only one shot attempt and grabbing a rebound.

In January 2018, Noah went into exile from the Knicks after having a heated verbal altercation with coach Jeff Hornacek.


Noah appeared in just seven games during the 2017–18 season, averaging 5.7 minutes off the bench.



On October 13, 2018, the Knicks released Noah via the stretch-provision waiver. Using the stretch provision allowed the Knicks to save $12.6M in cap space in 2019.


Noah, who had $38M left on his contract, was reluctant to give up any money on the remaining two years of his deal. The delay in waiving him was the Knicks trying to get Noah to give up more money in a buyout.


After everything was said and done the Joakim Noah Knicks’ tenure and contract would be labeled as “disastrous” and “the worst New York Knicks contract of all-time” by many.


Joakim Noah would only appear in 47 more games over the next two years, later retiring in March of 2021.


Overall, Joakim Noah would only appear in 53 out of the 164 possible in his 2 years on the team and out of 328 that were played in his 4 year contract span with the Knicks. Noah had 4.6 PPG and a .491 FG%, accompanied by 7.9 TRB and 2 AST.



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