I found out that James Harden could leave OKC if the money ain't right and i think he might go to his home town and play for the phoenix suns. Do you think hes gonna be a thunder or no?
He is not a free agent this year. But, yes he can sign anywhere next year, but OKC would still be able to match, since he will be a restricted free agent next year.
Really depends on how Phx does this year. I don't see Harden leaving a very good chemistry team that just went to the finals for a team that can't compete for more $$$. As Charles Barkley once said, "I may be wrong, but I doubt it."
They have till the start of the season to work out an extension. After that he will be a restricted free agent at the end of this next season. Meaning he WILL get a max level contract if he plays at the level he has played at the past 2 seasons. The Dilemma for OKC- -Given that the Thunder already have 54M on the books for the 2013/14 season minus Harden's salary, if they signed him to the max they are looking at paying Harden somewhere around 14M in 2013/14 if they match a max contract. Thats roughly 68M tied into 14 players assuming they pick up the rookie options on all of their players currently under contract next year. The Salary cap is set at 58M in 2013/14. Now, OKC did dodge a bullet by extending Ibaka out already on the contract they got him on. IF a team would have offered Ibaka a max contract in restricted free agency the Thunder would have owed him upwards of 15+million additionally over the first 4 years of his contract. This helps them out dramatically in their efforts to extend Harden. The Thunder do have the option to amnesty Perkins if they wish to do so. This would solve the issue immediately financially. My guess is that the Thunder want to get the best possible value that they can before they think about doing this. Even if they cant work out a contract extension they can still figure it out at the end of the season when they could essentially amnesty Perkins and match Hardens contract. This is why Harden is probably not happy with OKC's offer right now. They have no reason whatsoever to rush into anything other than to make a push at getting a hometown discount extension like the one Ibaka willingly signed on for. Why not low-ball him and see if they can get him to settle for a hometown discount before training camp starts. -My guess is that OKC and Harden will make it work. In the end, I THINK that they have star level value placed on his production, and Harden does have reasons to take a pay cut to stay in OKC and try to win titles for years to come. The only way this does not work out is if Presti feels like over-paying Harden is a mistake due to his abilities to truely be a star level player consistenly, and would rather trade him for value in return on the basketball court or in the future. This is where the Rockets or a similar team would come into play to trade for him before training camp, when OKC can get great value for him. If they wait till the deadline, that value could have diminished quite a bit. Should be an interesting couple of weeks to see what happens on the Harden/OKC front.
Seems like we get a hard on for anybody and everybody that is available. Sucks though that nobody gets a hard on for Morey.
I really don't think he is a max $ player and I think that is what we would have to offer to get him here in Houston.
Value as a player VS. market value are two different things. I guarantee you that next Summer his Market Value will be at the max. -Also keep in mind that since he was a RFA coming off of his rookie contract, the max will be considerably lower than that of the superstar max that someone coming off of their second contract would be elligible to sign. Look at Eric Gordon's contract for reference of what the overall salary would look like.
if we kepted gay and signed harden than we would have a lineup of gay harden. Would be an interesting combo
i don't know how Harden isn't a max player. his max will likely start at ~14.5 mil. Which means you can sign 3 players like him, and still have close to 30 mil for role players. That's a championship contender, unless you mess something up.
Houston Chronicle headlines after we trade.... "Morey has a Harden for Power Forwards" true... annnd true
Unless the Thunder decide to not resign him to a long term contract this season I can see him potentially leaving but I can't see him going over to Dallas because Mayo is already there but who knows. We do have a slight chance to sign him but.. it would really depend on how our SG/PF positions play out. If our current prospects pan out at all.
