The Unforgotten: #526 – Jon Koncak

Jon Koncak comes in at #526 on the All Time best NBA players list. The best thing about Jon Koncak is that his nickname was “Jon Contract”. Despite being a below average scorer (he only scored more than 5.7 ppg once in his career) and known mainly for his defense while coming off the bench, the Hawks thought that it would be a great idea to sign him to a huge contract. In 89′ he inked a 6 year – $13 million deal that had him earning almost as much as Michael Jordan ($2.5 mill), Magic Johnson ($3 mill), and Larry Bird ($2.7 mill). Yes, a lanky white guy that comes off the bench for some “tough minutes” making as much as three of the best players ever makes total sense. It has to be assumed that Isiah Thomas learned his GM skills from the Hawks management team from this era.  Because of this deal the Hawks were royally screwed when it came to signing free agents for years to come. Thus the nickname “Jon Contract” was born. Without Jon Koncak’s monster deal that screwed the Hawks we’d likely never have heard the term “…and Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract”.