Philadelphia 76ers free agent star James Harden is returning to the franchise on a new two-year, $68.6 million deal, including a player option for the 2023-24 season, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
The deal guarantees Harden $33 million for next season and the ability to turn down his $35.6 million player option and negotiate another free-agent deal next summer, sources said.
Harden, who declined a $47.4 million player option for next season, gave the 76ers salary cap flexibility with his 2022-23 pay cut – and allowed them to use free agents PJ Tucker and Danuel House commit using the midlevel and semi-annual exemptions. and facilitating the ability to acquire De’Anthony Melton in a draft night trade with Memphis.
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Harden — a 10-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA first-team guard — told Daryl Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations, that he wanted to do his part to strengthen the team’s roster and give it a better chance enter to fight for a championship. And denying that $47.4 million player option could also give the organization the flexibility to do business once the upcoming season begins.
The franchise is confident that Harden’s commitment to the win will see him return to preseason training camp in better physical condition than he played in Brooklyn and Philadelphia last season.
Harden, who turns 33 next month, averaged 22 points and 10.3 assists in 65 games with the Nets and Sixers. Brooklyn traded him to Philly in February as part of a blockbuster deal that saw Ben Simmons join the Nets. However, for the fourth time in five years, the Sixers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
Harden spent just one year in Brooklyn after his wildly successful eight-year run in Houston ended just before the start of the 2020-21 season when he was sent to the Nets for a significant draft package to partner with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, according to Fortune and Player. After a second-round loss to the Milwaukee Bucks two years ago, Harden’s relationship with the Nets soured after Irving was unable to play in New York due to the city’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
In Philadelphia, Harden was reunited with former Rockets general manager Morey, and they worked together to find a way to keep Harden as a sixer on this new deal and boost the franchise’s roster this summer.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.