James Harden re-signs with Philadelphia 76ers

Wed, Jul 20, 2022
NBA News (AP)

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Harden and the 76ers have agreed to a two-year, $68.6 million deal. The deal includes a $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 NBA season.

As Wojnarowski alludes to, Harden's new contract allowed Philadelphia to sign forward P.J. Tucker on a three-year, $33.2 million deal, and guard Danuel House on a two-year, $8.5 million deal. Both were former teammates of Harden with the Houston Rockets.'

Philadelphia also acquired guard De'Anthony Melton in a draft night trade with the Memphis Grizzlies on June 23.'

Harden opted out of his $47 million salary for the 2022-23 NBA season, which was the last season of a four-year, $228 million deal he signed with Houston.

Head coach Doc Rivers' backcourt rotation now includes Harden, Melton, House, Tyrese Maxey and Shake Milton. Harden, 33, appeared in 21 regular-season games for the 76ers last season. He averaged 21.0 points, 10.5 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting 40.2/32.6/89.2 across those 21 contests.'

The 76ers finished the 2021-22 regular season 51-31, which was good for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.'Philadelphia beat the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in six games. They then lost to the Miami Heat in six games in the East semis.'

The second-round exit marked Philadelphia's fifth consecutive playoff appearance where it hadn't advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.

The 76ers traded Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future first-round draft picks to the Nets for Harden and Paul Millsap on Feb. 10. Simmons didn't appear in a game for both the 76ers and Nets last season.'

Harden is a 10-time NBA All-Star, three-time scoring champion and won the 2017-18 NBA MVP Award.