After declining a $47.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season, star guard James Harden will accept a starting salary about $15 million less than a new contract with the Sixers, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) . That would put the ’22/23 salary in the $32-33MM range.
According to Charania, Harden intends to sign a two-year contract with Philadelphia that includes a player option for ’23/24. While the exact terms of the deal are not yet known, Charania’s reports suggest a total value in the range of $66-68MM.
When Harden declined his option last week, reports at the time indicated he planned to sign a new contract with the Sixers that included a lower first-year salary to help the team adjust to other roster moves.
Since then, Philadelphia has used its full mid-level exception to sign PJ Tucker and its two-year exception to sign Danwell House, a hard-capped team salary of roughly $157 million for the season. Harden’s new deal should leave the 76ers with about $2 million in wiggle room under that hard cap, Derek Bodner of The Daily Six tweeted.
According to Charania ( Twitter link ), Harden’s close relationship with key figures in the Sixers organization, including president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and minority owner Michael Rubin (who is selling his stake in the franchise but is expected to remain involved), has been extensive factors for establishing trust between the two parties during negotiations.
There was a feeling after Harden declined his option that he would be rewarded with a long-term contract that would give him more total guaranteed money, but the one-plus-one structure would give him the option to opt out and sign a new max-salary deal next summer. It will also give him veto power over any deal during the 2022/23 league.
Harden, who was traded from Brooklyn to Philadelphia midway through the 2021-22 season, had a down year by his standards and was hampered by a hamstring injury. The 10-time All-Star finished the season with 22.0 PPG, 10.3 APG and 7.7 RPG on .410/.330/.877 shooting in a combined 65 games (37.2 MPG) for the Nets and Sixers.
Charania reported last week that the former MVP had resumed his training and on-court program much earlier than usual this offseason and told Sixers officials that he was focused on winning a championship in 2023.
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