The NBA is a star-driven league, in which one A-list player can drastically alter a team’s fortunes on the court and on the balance sheet. And finally, the league’s best players are getting paid like it.
One week after Steph Curry agreed to a 5-year, $201 million deal that was the biggest contract in NBA history, James Harden has reached a comparably huge deal with the Rockets. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday that Harden will add four years to the two years, $59 million left on his current contract, keeping him in Houston through 2022-23 and bringing the total value of his deal to $228 million.
Sources with @WindhorstESPN: James Harden and Rockets are progressing toward deal on biggest contract extension in NBA history.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2017
Harden's progressing toward adding four years onto Houston current deal, an extension that could guarantee him $228M through 2022-23 season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2017
Shortly after Woj’s report, news of the extension was confirmed by Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/883783834428375042
The specifics of Harden’s new contract are a bit confusing, but one thing is clear: He is getting paid bigly. By the final year of his deal, Harden will be making $46.8 million a year or 571,000 a game.
A James Harden four-year extension would start in 2019-20 at a salary of $37.8M, $40.8M, $43.8M and $46.8M. https://t.co/zq5eLKrube
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 8, 2017
The Harden extension could increase or decrease based on the salary cap. The projected extension is based on a $108M cap.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 8, 2017
Harden deserves every penny of his new deal, which was enabled by rules in the new collective bargaining agreement. He has averaged at least 25 points per game each of his five seasons in Houston and has twice finished second in MVP voting. He’s also been named first-team All-NBA in three of the past four seasons. By any measure, he’s one of the top five or six players in the league.
More importantly, Harden is one of only a handful of guys you can truly build a title contender around. Take Harden off the Rockets, and they fall from arguably the second best team in the Western Conference to a borderline playoff squad. That kind of impact is worth tens of millions of dollars.
Newly acquired Rockets point guard Chris Paul, who happens to be president of the NBA Players Association, was very happy for his teammate.
CONGRATS!!!! To hell with the ball, lemme hold some 💰 pic.twitter.com/i4M1iVzCID
— Chris Paul (@CP3) July 8, 2017
Maybe CP3 is just pumped because Harden will be buying team dinners for a long time to come.
[ESPN]
