High end - Hartenstein, Z Edey, Zubac, Duren, W Kessler
Lower end - J Allen, D Lively, N Claxton, Diabate, Queta
I am not including Mark Williams in this group because he is too injury prone. Too undependable. Zach Edey may join him on this list but I'll leave him in for now.
So those are the guys who I would compare to Queta.
Of those 10 players, 2 are still on rookie deals. Z Edey and D Lively. So their contracts are not useful for comparison.
Queta and Diabate were journeymen / 2nd round picks who have come good. Queta just got paid. Diabate hasn't yet. That is 4 of 10 players.
Leaving 6 others to look at.
* Duren = looking for max money, likely to get $35-40mil
* Zubac = signed a cheaper deal in 2024 (12ppg 9rpg) before his breakout year in 2025 (16ppg 12rpg, All-Defense). He is signed for $19-22mil a year for 4 years. He would get more money today if he was back on the market.
* J Allen = $20mil this year, $28-32mil next 3 years
* Hartenstein = gave up money to stay on a title winning team. Earning $25mil per year. I expect he would have gotten around $30mil if he left OKC.
* W Kessler = 4yrs $130mil. So $32.5mil per year.
* Nic Claxton = signed a declining contract that started at $27mil a year going down to $21mil a year at the end of his deal. He signed the deal after averaging 12ppg 10rpg in 30mpg.
-----------
The other thing about these contracts is they just keep going up. The cap is set at $165mil this coming year (2026-27). 3 years ago (2024-25) it was $140mil. So you have to factor that in as well.
A guy who got $25.2mil in 2025 got 18% of the cap. That 18% today is now $29.7mil. So the contracts are rising and rising in a short space of time.
That $29.7mil in 2026-27 looks like an overpay relative to the $25mil in 2024-25 but it the same percentage of the cap.