The Philadelphia 76ers swung a huge deal at the deadline back in February when they sent Ben Simmons and other very good depth pieces to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for superstar guard James Harden.
Harden has not exactly played like that superstar guard that he has been in the past and as the Sixers get set to make a big decision on what to do with him in the long term, there are some questions about whether they should extend him.
The future Hall of Famer does have a $46.8 million player option for the 2022-23 season that he said he would opt in to, but there is talk that he will demand a supermax after that.
Per Brian Windhorst of ESPN, he questions whether the Sixers should give it to him:
That is sitting in the lap of ownership and Josh Harris. That is going to be his decision. I will tell you this, as I talk to league executives, they say to me if James Harden was in the middle of a $100 million contract like if he had two years left, they would be worried about that. The concept of him looking like this at the start of a $200 million/$250 million contract is unthinkable and we know Daryl Morey is heavily invested in him, but it’s ownership that’s gotta sign off on it. The issue is when they made this trade, they knew they were not trading for James Harden. They were trading for James Harden and the right to pay him that. They mortgaged their depth and their future to do so and they’re pinning themselves in the corner with it.
In seven games in the 2022 playoffs, Harden is averaging 18.6 points and 9.4 assists, but he is shooting only 40.2% from the floor and 36.6% from deep. Those are not the usual Harden numbers and that isn’t what Philadelphia needs against the Miami Heat with Joel Embiid injured at the moment.
It will be up to Daryl Morey and company to decide if it’s worth giving Harden that much money as they all move forward on their title run.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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