And he'll deserve every penny. The idea that he would take less to join us is laughable. Pay the man.
as opposed to what? u think he was coming here for less than max? he would be doing us a favor coming back, not the other way around.
Harden could fit groceries for 5 in those pants…those the pants u wear when you’re about to go shoplifting
We don't even need harden to carry us this hard if he comes back. His playmaking is what we need. Quite scary that "washed up" harden is still league apart in skill level compared to our players
No one knows what this team will be like until after the draft and after some free agent discussions, and after we find out if Harden gets a ring this year or not. No idea what Harden will demand, but he took a significant cut this year, there are not many teams willing and able to give harden a super max that he also would want to play for. There are maybe 1-2 other teams he would consider at this point that could make it work. At 33 and with his ties to the PE/VC world (Mike Rubin/ and 5+ active VC investments currently) and other businesses he's started within hospitality (restaurants and his wine label), there are some opportunities to work something out with Tilman that benefits him far greater than the deal that Dirk got from Cuban for signing for less. Tilman and the Rockets will want to keep Harden around this franchise after retirement. Harden will have $500M in NBA earnings, $200M from adidas until 2028, his shoes are pretty popular among players so he may get a renewal on this. He was the second biggest athlete investor in Body Armour behind Kobe, this was sold to Coca Cola for $5.6 billion, my understanding was he had a material ownership. I think with a billion + in earnings by 38 and the connections he has (being friends with KD alone will get him connected in retirement to more billionaire entrepreneurs than we can count), taking a discount won't be out of the question. There are a handful of NBA players that I think will be extremely well off, KD And Harden are two of them, they are actually connected to more smart money than even Lebron. There are many reasons I think Tilman and Harden will work together post retirement, but I won't post them all, but you can just take a look at the 2017 Rockets and how many Rolls Royce's and Bentley's there were in that garage, far more than any other NBA team with those two brands, Tilly owns a RR/Bentley dealership its not a coincidence. Things will be provided for James off the books, just like they were in Brooklyn.
If he is smart, he won't. He would gamble on his body not breaking down and use his playoff performance to milk Philly for 1 or 2 more years. And then sign with Houston when he is 35 or 36 for a near max or whatever he could get if his body holds up. That's maximum retirement money right there. Provided Houston really wants him back and not some stunt to use it on other major players.
