It’s finally happened.
The free agency news everyone has been waiting for. No, not Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, or Donovan Mitchell.
James Harden.
Harden was the last “big” free agent left on the market and he has finally signed his new deal with the Sixers after he opted out of his $47.4 million deal for next season so the team could become deeper.
The new deal is for 2 years worth $68.6 million with him making $33 million next season and having a player option after the season.
Harden has been adamant about doing whatever it takes for the Sixers to become a better team so he and the team can win a championship.
“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.”
By all accounts he’s been a man of his word because he told GM Daryl Morey that he’d take whatever was left over and he took a $14 million paycut for next season and he’s started his offseason workouts sooner.
Just need to see the on the court stuff now.
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