James Harden hasn’t exercised his $47,366,760 player option for next season following his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers and, though he’s said he will, rumor is he could decline and take less money so the team could open up a max spot for a third marquee player.
Per ESPN’s Zach Lowe:
“Here’s the conspiracy. This is the one going around the league – that James Harden, to be clear, just debunked – that 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 the people who say that are like, “If that happens, some eyebrows at the league office might be raised.”
(H/T NBC Sports)
The Sixers would be in the clear to discuss future plans with Harden once everything is finalized and it’s nothing new for players to take less money so their teams could sign top stars. Dwyane Wade did it more than once when he was in Miami.
As Lowe points out, the 76ers would have to dump other salaries for this to work as no cut Harden agrees to take would be significant enough on its own.
