When the Philadelphia 76ers likely hand James Harden a monster extension this offseason, there’s a good chance they’ll be paying for his past results more than what he will do on the new deal.
And that’s a concern for some in the organization.
Harden has not been all he was billed to be since landing with the 76ers ahead of the trade deadline. Sure, he’s obviously offering more than Ben Simmons was this season, but he hasn’t exactly been transcendent or launching Philly into “unequivocal best team in the East” territory.
Couple that with the fact that next season will be his age-33 campaign and he’s been trending downwards, that could be a problem for the 76ers.
Thus, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix said there’s some trepidation within the 76ers.
“There are definitely people in Philadelphia wary of giving James Harden what would be tantamount to a five-year, quarter of a billion-dollar deal," Mannix explained this week on "The Bill Simmons Podcast." "Even now, with the short sample size of watching him, that’s a concern. That’s a legitimate concern amongst some people in Philly. It’s going to be a bad contract at some point, the concern is does it become a bad contract sooner rather than later, and I’d be a little worried about that. If you don’t get a great playoff run this year out of him, are you going to get one next year? When does he start to really decline?
“They’re going to give him that contract, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that, but that’s a worry for some people down there.”
Harden is eligible to sign a max extension this offseason with the 76ers that would pay him more than any other contract he’s been on before. Obviously, he would be wise to stay with the 76ers for that reason. For Philly, it would be a bad look if it traded Simmons and a glut of other useful pieces for a player that proved to be a rental.
The 76ers can be as anxious as they want, but they’ve more or less locked themselves into more years with Harden -- and this was the obvious byproduct of hitching their wagon to him.
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