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June 23, 2025
Will the Sixers ever be able to count on Joel Embiid and Paul George's availability?
The expectations for Philadelphia's pro teams are lofty. As they should be.
The Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champions with their entire offense still intact. The Phillies are bouncing back from a 95-win season and early playoff exit. The Sixers have three All-Stars and a bevy of young talent. The Union have the most points in all of MLS. And the Flyers are looking to hit their stride as the rebuild hits the next stage with some promising talent taking center stage.
The play on the field/court/ice is one thing. The decisions from the front office are an entirely different thing.
As we set out to determine the 10 biggest boondoggles, overpays and wastes of money on Philly teams' ledgers right now, we could not find one Eagles contract that was a bad one. Howie Roseman has had a remarkable stretch.
The same can't be said for the other three major teams in the city. Here's our look at the 10 worst current contracts in Philadelphia:
Geoff Mosher: The Union shelled out a club-record transfer fee to acquire the tall, physical Uruguayan striker who was known for a great finish. While the Union lead MLS's Eastern Conference, they still haven't gotten much scoring punch from their high-priced forward. Damiani has just two goals – 11 behind team leader Tai Baribo – and one assist, although he does lead the team in shot conversion ratio and on-target scoring attempts, so perhaps he's just unlucky.
Geoff: Forget about the defense issue. The Phillies are paying him $20 million a year to hit homers and drive in runs. Right now, he's on pace to hit fewer than 20 dingers and drive in fewer than 70 runs. That's fourth outfielder numbers for some teams. He's been very streaky in his Phillies career, which has made him hard to trade, so he'll probably be on the roster again in 2026.
Nick Tricome: This was a deal that was almost universally panned when it was signed, as Ristolainen had been an advanced stats punching bag for the majority of his career going back to Buffalo.
But all things considered, his contract has turned around to be pretty manageable. The NHL's salary cap being set for steady increases year over year helps with that, but Ristolainen also turned his game around under Brad Shaw these past couple of years to be a steady middle-pairing defenseman, and one who playoff teams covet at his size, as trade rumors around the last two deadlines have shown.
The main problem right now is Ristolainen's health. A ruptured triceps has cut his season short two years in a row, and he isn't expected to be ready for the start of this coming one as he rehabs from the latest tear.
But even so, the Flyers seem fine with keeping him in the picture until that contract runs out, or moving him if a package they like does end up coming along – if he stays healthy, though.
Geoff: Nola's recent injuries (ankle, ribs), coupled with his 6.16 ERA, make his nearly $25M annual salary cringeworthy at the moment. But every other year since 2020, Nola has finished with a sub-4.00 ERA, so there's hope for a bounce back next season. Nola isn't a power pitcher, so there's not as much concern about losing a tick off his fastball with age, but can he really last five more years after this season and continue to be a dependable, innings-eating, top-three starter in the Phils' rotation?
Here's a look at the last time we did this, in the summer of 2023:
Nick: A long series of back issues and surgeries coinciding with the team's plummet out of relevancy made this contract quickly look abysmal. However, Couturier, ever since he returned for the 2023-24 season, has stayed on the ice pretty consistently and even took up the captaincy.
He's shown flashes of that shutdown, Selke-caliber center he was before his back problems, but not really the star center completely fitting of his annual number. Still, he's shown he can be a serviceable second-line center and held up well as one of rising star Matvei Michkov's early linemates.
Couturier is going to be here to see the Flyers' rebuild through, and should have enough gas left in the tank to be a productive part of it, just maybe not to what the organization hoped he would be when they originally reached that deal. For where they're headed, though, it's not going to handcuff them.
Nick: It's dead money. Ellis isn't ever coming back, but long-term injured reserve will at least keep his cost off cap. The logic in trading for him, to former GM Chuck Fletcher's credit, was sound at the time. It just went south. But it did contribute to the Flyers, eventually, getting on the rebuilding path they're on now.
Geoff: The list of productive, valuable Phillies who make less than Walker's $18M annual salary is too depressing and too long to actually write. The best-case scenario is that Walker emerges as a potential high-leverage relief arm, but even that's not worth close to $20M, and wouldn't be enough to find an offseason trade partner. Don't be shocked if he's back next season for his final year in another uncertain ro.
Evan Macy: The Sixers really didn't have much of a choice last season, as they were desperately hoping they could compete for a title with their version of a "big three" and role players filling in the holes. A healthy Joel Embiid could perhaps help Philly contend — he is only a few years removed from an MVP after all. The problem is, there is no healthy Joel Embiid. At least there hasn't been for quite a while.
Embiid, now 30, played in just 19 games last season, and if he isn't able to stay on the floor, the extension he signed could go down as one of the worst in team history. Daryl Morey and the Sixers are fully committed, and with a contract as inflated and untradable as Embiid's is, they're going to have to push forward and hope the seven-footer's knees hold up.
Evan: It wasn't hard to see it coming. George is 34, has a history of being injured, and appeared to hit his decline in 2024-25. The nine-time All-Star was only healthy enough to play in 41 games last season, had his worst scoring output in over a decade and had the worst three-point shooting season since his rookie year in 2010-11.
Sixers fans will no doubt be fantasizing about finding a way to move off his contract for the next three years as it's one of the worst in the NBA with very little upside. Philly was able to tank its way to the third pick in the winter and spring with its stars all injured, and a youth movement could be on the way — one that George could be hindering on the back end of this gargantuan contract.
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Evan Macy
evan@phillyvoice.com
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