James Harden re-signs with Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers have re-signed superstar guard James Harden, who they acquired from the Brooklyn Nets at the 2022 NBA trade deadline.
Harden and the 76ers have agreed to a two-year, $68.6 million deal, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal reportedly includes a $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 NBA season.
As Wojnarowski alludes to, Harden took a $14 million pay cut that allowed Philadelphia to sign forward P.J. Tucker to a three-year, $33.2 million deal, and guard Danuel House to a two-year, $8.5 million deal. Both were former teammates of Harden with the Houston Rockets.
Philadelphia also acquired former Memphis Grizzlies guard De'Anthony Melton in a draft-night trade on June 23.
On "Undisputed," Shannon Sharpe reacted to Harden's new deal and shared why he isn't a fan of the move.
"I hate when guys give up money voluntarily, I really do," Sharpe said. "I [could] see if James Harden took this $13-$14 million pay cut, and they were bringing in [Kevin Durant], or they were bringing in LeBron [James] or Giannis [Antetokounmpo] … but they gave a three-year deal to 37-year-old P.J. Tucker. I love Tuck, but that's really risky. … We see teams that are willing to pay. Steph Curry [hasn't] taken no pay cut. … You can spend money and still be in the championship game."
James Harden signs two-year, $68.8M contract with 76ers
Harden opted out of his $47 million salary for the 2022-23 NBA season, which was the last season of a four-year, $228 million deal he signed with Houston.
Head coach Doc Rivers' backcourt rotation now includes Harden, Melton, House, Tyrese Maxey and Shake Milton. Harden, 32, appeared in 21 regular-season games for the 76ers last season. He averaged 21.0 points, 10.5 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting 40.2/32.6/89.2 across those 21 contests.
The 76ers finished the 2021-22 regular season 51-31, which was good for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia beat the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in six games. They then lost to the Miami Heat in six games in the East semis.
The second-round exit marked Philadelphia's fifth consecutive playoff appearance where it hadn't advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.
The 76ers traded Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future first-round draft picks to the Nets for Harden and Paul Millsap on Feb. 10. Simmons didn't appear in a game for both the 76ers and Nets last season.
Harden is a 10-time NBA All-Star, three-time scoring champion and won the 2017-18 NBA MVP Award.
