James Harden contract: 76ers star declines $47.3M option for 2022-23, reportedly will sign new deal with team
James Harden might be persevering with his profession with the Philadelphia 76ers. On Wednesday, the veteran guard opted out of his $47.3 million participant choice for the 2022-23 season, however he is anticipated to signal a brand new contract with the Sixers as soon as free company begins, based on Shams Charania of The Athletic. By opting out of his participant choice, Harden offers the Sixers extra monetary flexibility to assist enhance the remainder of the roster this summer season round hiim and MVP runner-up Joel Embiid.
After the Sixers had been eradicated by the Miami Heat within the Jap Convention semifinals final month, Harden mentioned that he would take a pay lower within the short-term with a view to assist the group construct a professional contender, and it seems as if he is lived as much as his phrase.
“I will be right here. [I’ll do] no matter it takes to assist this group proceed to develop, and put us up there with one of the best of them,” Harden mentioned on the time. “We’re attempting to win a championship. That is the aim. No matter that appears like.”
The Sixers traded Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and a pair of picks to the Brooklyn Nets in February with a view to land Harden, and the group’s plan all alongside has been to maintain the previous MVP in a Sixers uniform for the foreseeable future. “That is the plan is to have him again. That is been the plan because the commerce,” Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said of Harden after Philadelphia’s season ended.
“Clearly, now we have to work along with his illustration and that’ll be between us to determine how that works,” Morey added. “… He is an extremely proficient participant similar to Joel [Embiid], similar to Tobias [Harris], and I am excited for Doc [Rivers] and his workers to have an entire offseason, work with the gamers, and provide you with one of the best plan for the roster.”
In 21 common season video games with the Sixers final season, Harden averaged 21.0 factors, 10.5 assists, 7.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per efficiency. His manufacturing dipped barely in 12 postseason video games with Philadelphia, and at occasions it regarded like he had misplaced a step in comparison with his prime enjoying days. Nevertheless, the hope is that after a wholesome offseason Harden will return to kind.
“I have been attempting to get proper by way of the course of a basketball season for 2 years straight,” Harden mentioned final month. “And it is like, that is not it. You realize what I imply? All final summer season I used to be rehabbing. It was just a little irritating as a result of I am not used to going by way of one thing like that, however it’s what it’s. I am simply comfortable to be wholesome now. I’ve obtained a full summer season to be straight and do the issues crucial to return again even higher subsequent yr.”
Particulars of Harden’s subsequent contract with the Sixers nonetheless should be hammered out, but it surely definitely looks like he is dedicated to the franchise given the truth that he turned down his choice with a view to assist the group financially. Now, it is on Philadelphia’s entrance workplace to discover a technique to construct a greater — and deeper — roster across the duo of Harden and Embiid, as a result of the roster that that they had final season clearly wasn’t adequate.
