James Harden shocked some after it was announced that he would opt out of his contract with the Sixers for next season, which was set to pay him $47 million.
After the announcement, the thought was that he was going to sign a long-term deal that would pay him less money per year, but that hasn’t happened because he really wants to win. So much that he reportedly told GM Daryl Morey to focus on getting better talent around he and Joel Embiid, and he’d take what was left over, according to ESPN and Yahoo Sports.
“I had conversations with [team president] Daryl [Morey], and it was explained how we could get better and what the market value was for certain players. I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over,” Harden told Yahoo Sports. “This is how bad I want to win. I want to compete for a championship. That’s all that matters to me at this stage. I’m willing to take less to put us in position to accomplish that.”
“I think we have a much deeper team,” Harden said. “That’s something we wanted to address. If you look at our team now, we’re positioned to go a lot further. I like how we stack up with the rest of the top teams.”
“I talk with Joel frequently and we have meetings about how we’re going to play and what we need to do to help our team win a championship,” Harden said. “When you have two of the top players at their positions on the same team, that’s a great building block. We’re going to grow together and try to lead this team to the top. I believe we can do it together.”
Currently, Harden is saying all the right things, and he’s even doing all of the right things, given it was reported that he started his offseason workouts sooner this summer. All that is left is for him to show it in court.
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