James Harden has a $47.36 million player option for 2022-23, which Nets fans are surely hoping he decides to exercise…but if he doesn’t, could he be headed just 100 miles or so down I-95?
According to NBA Insider Shams Charania, the Philadelphia 76ers and general manager Daryl Morey “have sights set” on Harden if he becomes available.
In the report, Charania says that according to some of the teams interested in acquiring beleaguered Sixers star Ben Simmons before the Feb. 10 trade deadline, belief is that the Sixers prefer to wait until to the offseason to deal Simmons, potentially using him as a chip to make a sign-and-trade deal for Harden if that becomes a possibility.
Philly would have to clear quite a bit of cap space to acquire Harden’s contract in that case, but given that Simmons would have three years and roughly $119 million left on his deal after this season, dealing him would be a good start. Simmons is due to make just under $34 million in 2022-23, so in a Brooklyn-Philly swap scenario, the Nets would actually gain about $13.5 million against their cap space.
Harden, now 32, seemed to be next in line after the Nets extended Kevin Durant, but it did not happen, and the Nets could be in a serious cap crunch. Both Harden and Kyrie Irving ($36.5 million) have player options for next season, and if they both opt in, Brooklyn would have $153.4 million committed to just seven players.
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Patty Mills also has a $6.184 million player option, meaning Brooklyn could be on the hook for $159.5 million for their Big 3, Mills, Joe Harris, Jevon Carter, and first-round picks Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe – leaving them very little wiggle room to fill out a roster under a salary cap likely to be at least $30 million below their guaranteed total.
Morey was the general manager who acquired Harden in Houston in 2012, and he left the team in the 2020 off-season, months before Harden was dealt to Brooklyn.
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