Strangely, it could also mean Harden has earned enough money and is doing the opposite of Chris Paul, and wants to give the team the opportunity to get better. Amazing that what the person says, could be what it means. It's a strange strange world.
Chris Paul opted out of 44 Million and signed a 4/120 million contract only of which 75 million is guaranteed. (30m in 2022, 28m in 2023, 16m in 2024). Keep in mind when CP3 signed this, Lowry had just signed for 3/90 fully guaranteed with Miami. Harden is likely to sign either a 3 year OR 4 year contract starting at 41 million or 38 million with 8% increase every year.
Much like CP3, he wouldn't be turning down the full supermax $60M+ extension he really wanted if PHI was offering that instead He took the best offer he could find ove the next 2-3 years Kyrie opted in because NOBODY is offering him a long term deal anywhere near $37M annually Harden opted out because Morey is offering 2-3 more years at about the same amount, still more total than $47M next year
Harden is back on the Giannis diet. Glad to see he made some changes and hope he can finish out his career strong. He was going down the early/mid 30s Charles Barkley path.
The only chance 76ers have at contending is 1. Harden lose weight, get his bounce back, and be at least his 2020 pre injury form. 2. Maxey makes a another huge leap into a shot creator on his own 3. Embiid does not get injured in the playoffs
Insane pay cut After looking it up, still not enough for an EG deal to work, they would have to move Tobi or something crazy.
On the one hand, this is sacrifice; on the other hand, his disappointing play, recent injury history, and ugly exits from two teams are the reasons no one would give him a max extension.
@BimaThug Unless one of Tobi / Melton are moved I don't see how it's possible 37,633,050 + 33,616,770 + 32,000,000 + 19,568,360 + 10,490,000 + 8,250,000 + 4,105,000 + 2,726,880 = 148,390,060 Harris, Embiid, Harden, Gordon, Tucker, Melton, House, Maxey = 148.3 million (if Harden took 32 mill flat) With only 8 players, unless I'm missing something big... 76ers could offer a 9 for 1, only sign rookie minimums, and would still be over the LT-threshold by 3+ million
The opt out is interesting... puts him in play when the Rockets have extra cap space and a possible need at PG. If he looks good this year but doesn't like Philly I could see him as a viable option here with showing contrition for how he jaked it... There's not much out there for free agent in a year... may prefer 3 or 4 years of Harden over max Wiggins for example... Depends what happens next season...
I don't think Philly wants to do that. They want Tobias out - they don't like his value at the contract $$
Not insane when your're washed and know other teams aren't going to max you out. He had $47 million guaranteed to him and now has 2-years $65 million on his deal. So he picked up $18 million in guaranteed dollars. No one was maxing Harden out man. This deal is win and a great way for him to save face. Good job by the folks who represent him. Because he's done as an elite player.
this is exactly what i was thinking. He's probably already talked to tilman and knows he can go back to houston. He can get us back to the playoffs when we need to. James, come back! i'll forgive you. give him like 3 year, 100 million chris paul deal.
Harden def coulda got more guaranteed $$ than that, and a max. Maybe not the crazy 60M one, but more $$ for sure. He's not washed. He put up 22/8/10 last year.