The Philadelphia 76ers have already made their big moves to add to the roster. They’ve added the likes of PJ Tucker, Danuel House Jr., and De’Anthony Melton in order to add to the depth, but there was still more work to be done.
The team still needed to take care of the other half of their star duo in the form of James Harden. The future Hall of Famer declined his player option for the 2022-23 season in order to allow Philadelphia teh financial flexibility to sign Tucker and House Jr. in free agency.
Now, the Sixers have made their move.
Harden and Philadelphia have agreed to a 2-year $68.6 million deal. Harden is taking a $15 million pay cut in order to help the Sixers make the moves they needed to make in free agency in order to make them a title contender in the East. The second year of that deal is a player option.
Harden will make $33M for the 2022-2023 season, and has the player option for $35.6M in 2023-2024, sources tell ESPN. He can move right back into free agency next summer and negotiate another new deal. https://t.co/9UM0LArYzH
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 20, 2022
Harden averaged 21 points, 10.5 assists, and 7.1 rebounds as a member of the Sixers in 21 games after being acquired from the Brooklyn Nets. That was with a bad hamstring.
Now that he’s had a full summer to rest and be able to commit to the Sixers, he’s expected to put up some big numbers in Philadelphia and push them to a title in the 2022-23 season.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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