By Jerry Wein
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news last night that James Harden and the Sixers had agreed on a deal:
A new two-year, $68.6 million contract, including a player option for the 2023-24 season.
The deal guarantees Harden $33 million for next season and the opportunity to decline his $35.6 million player option and negotiate another free agent deal next summer.
Harden, who had declined a $47.4 million player option for next season, delivered the 76ers salary-cap flexibility with his pay cut for 2022-23 — allowing them to sign free agents P.J. Tucker and Danuel House by using the midlevel and biannual exceptions, and facilitating the ability to acquire De’Anthony Melton in a draft night trade with Memphis.
Harden, who turns 33 next month, averaged 22 points and 10.3 assists across 65 games with the Nets and Sixers. Brooklyn traded him to Philly in February as part of a blockbuster deal that included Ben Simmons joining the Nets. For the fourth time in five years, though, the Sixers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
Harden spent only a year in Brooklyn, after his wildly successful eight-year run in Houston ended near the start of the 2020-21 season, when he was sent to partner with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the Nets for a significant package of draft assets and players. After a second-round loss to the Milwaukee Bucks two years ago, Harden’s relationship with the Nets deteriorated in the wake of Irving’s inability to play in New York due to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
