#1 Philadelphia 76ers
All indications point towards James Harden remaining with the Philadelphia 76ers past this season and it would not be surprising to see him sign a new four or five-year deal with them worth upwards of $200 million.
However, Harden’s contract situation and his player option for next season could determine what else the 76ers plan to do in the offseason and in free agency.
Tobias Harris is heavily speculated to be on the move in a trade after this season, as the 76ers look to move the two years and $76.9 million remaining on his contract, and in doing so, they could open up the ability to bring in another max-contract type of player to pair with James Harden and Joel Embiid long-term.
Possibly taking less money than his $47 million player option for next season, James Harden could allow the 76ers to form an even better championship contending roster than they currently have.
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There have been some rumors about this around the league and ESPN’s Zach Lowe seems to be buying into this theory going around the league, as he talked about it on his podcast recently.
“Here’s the conspiracy. This is the one going around the league that James Harden, to be clear, just debunked. He’s going to decline his option, re-sign for less money, so that Philadelphia can dump Tobias Harris into somebody’s cap space and open up if they dump some other people an almost, almost, almost max slot for a third star. That’s the one that’s going around the league. And people who say that are like, ‘If that happens, some eyebrows at the league office might be raised.’ Again, James Harden says it’s his intent to pick up the player option. I believe him. Maybe it was just a paperwork snafu. We’ve all had paperwork snafus. You send something to the wrong address, it gets sent back to you. You type in something wrong on the auto form, you have to fill it out again. It happens. Maybe it’s just a conspiracy theory.”
ESPN’s Zach Lowe on ‘The Lowe Post’ podcast
It really is not crazy to think that Daryl Morey can talk James Harden down in price this upcoming free agency, especially given his relationship with James throughout the years when they were both with the Houston Rockets.
Should James Harden be willing to take less money in free agency than many would imagine to remain with the 76ers, Philadelphia would suddenly become a prime destination for someone like Bradley Beal in a massive blockbuster offseason trade, forming one of the best All-Star trios in the league in James Harden, Joel Embiid and Bradley Beal.
