James Harden and the Rockets have finalized a contract extension that will keep him under contract through the 2022/23 season, the team announced today in a press release. Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (link via Woj’s Twitter) first reported that Harden and the Rockets were making progress toward a new deal that will be the biggest in NBA history.
The new contract will begin in 2019/20, replacing Harden’s player option, and will add four years to the guaranteed two years on his current deal.
“Houston is home for me,” Harden said in a statement. “Mr. [Leslie] Alexander has shown he is fully committed to winning and my teammates and I are going to keep putting in the work to get better and compete for the title.”
Harden just signed an extension with the Rockets last summer, and typically wouldn’t be permitted to sign another new deal so soon. However, he and Russell Westbrook are eligible for extensions this summer, having been grandfathered in under the Designated Veteran Extension rules in the new CBA. The DVE allows players to sign for super-max deals worth 35% of the cap when they are named to the league’s All-NBA team and/or meet other criteria.
The exact terms of Harden’s extension will depend on where the NBA’s salary cap lands in 2019/20, but based on current projections, it would be worth more than $169MM over the four new years, running through 2022/23. Combined with his next two seasons, he’d be on track to earn approximately $228MM over the next six years.
Harden, who turns 28 next month, is coming off an MVP-caliber season in which he set new career highs in PPG (29.1), APG (11.2), and RPG (8.1). He’ll join forces in 2017/18 with fellow All-Star Chris Paul, who was acquired by Houston last month in a blockbuster trade with the Clippers.
Westbrook (Thunder) and John Wall (Wizards) are the other stars expected to receive Designated Veteran Extension offers this offseason, if they haven’t already. Stephen Curry (Warriors) agreed to the first of those deals last weekend.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Wow they overpayed for that choke artist, that boy doesn’t have that MJ-Kobe dog in him to lead them to a title, smh teams are just throwing money out to these soft players.
so they just let him walk or trade him? Do you understand basketball, in particular the NBA???
Not let him walk but thats a whole lot of money.
He’s arguably a top 3-5 player in the league. What are you talking about? He’s also attracted players to the rockets that never considered them before.
3-5 in the NBA? Whats your list? I have him in the 7-13 range at best, but that’s without considering certain players who improved last year, and might/will get better next year
Top 5? What are you smoking?
1. Leonard
2. KD
3. Russ
4. Davis
5. Lequeen(Even though I hate that primadonna)
Hol on let me edit that
1. Leonard
2. KD
3. Curry
4. Russ
5. Davis
Leave that drame queen Lebron out.
Hahahaha AD isn’t a top five player. Maybe in talent sure but he’s not top five
you have stated numerous times you’re not a LeBron hater but now you hate him??? you contradict yourself daily
Jajajaja this place is full of Lebron lovers.
Or…it’s full of people that watch with their eyes open instead of letting saltiness he didn’t come to them in 2010 cloud their opinion. Cmon man. Even if you don’t like him for whatever reason, there is zero legitimate argument against him right now. I don’t have him top 6 all time yet, but he is definitely up there in the top 10, arguably in that 7 spot
I don’t care for lebron and actively root against him but even I am not dumb enough to say he is not a top 5 player in the nba. Can you please leave the commenting to the adults that know and understand the sport
LeChoke is a bum.
I hate LeBron but at least I admit it
He is a great athlete but my personality resonates more with Kobe and Mike. I respect cold blooded killers who relish those big moments that make them legendary, I have yet to see Lebron do anything legendary and don’t even bring up him coming back 3-1 because he had to get Green suspended and those of us who actually saw the games know Kyrie was the one who closed the deal and won the Cavs that ring not LeChoke.
Dionis LeBron has ONLY averaged a triple double in the last 2 finals and came back from down 3-1 against the GREATEST TEAM OF ALL TIME
He’s not even a top 5 player in the west. Not even top 10 in NBA.
“MJ-Kobe dog to lead them to a title?” Yeah, they were killers but without Shaq or Pau, Kobe missed the playoffs and was a 7th seed two years in a row. Without Pippen, Jordan was getting spanked in the first round. Don’t call a player soft cause he isn’t going to the finals without another superstar when the two players you mentioned didn’t do it either
Never compare LeChoke with those true legends, Lebron does not leave it all out on the court. He gets his and quits.
He didn’t even mention Lebron, hater
The difference between bron and Kobe as bball players is bigger than the distance between Kobe and me
Wow. How to make a lot of money. Step one, practice basketball a lot.
they can give him a billion…still not winning a title.
He soft
That is going to be a large hit on the cap and CP3 isnt even signed long term yet….
Didn’t include this in the story because cap projections will change in the next two years, so there’s no point going through the year-by-year figures yet. But based on the CURRENT projections, the final year of Harden’s contract (2022/23) will be worth $46,872,000!
Crazy…especially for a ball stopper that doesn’t play defense and gets most of his efficiency from getting phantom calls in the regular season. And that last year would be his age 34 season
Oh man Harden is overpaid !!!
Best 5 players
1. Leonard
2. Durant
3. Davis
4. Curry
5. James
And Harden is not the 6 or 7 best player man down
6. Gianni’s
7. Cousins
8. Wall
9. Harden That’s it
He is 6th best behind:
1) Kawhi
2) Lebron
3) Durant
4) Curry
5) Westbrook.
Maybe 7 if you pick AD over him but Giannis hasn’t hit his prime yet and he is better than Wall and Cousins
Lebron ain’t top 5 bruh, get that mentally weak boy out of the top 5. Kyrie has more skill and is better then that bum.
Dionis is either an all-time great troll or a complete idiot. Difficult to tell
I’ll take Chris Paul, John Wall, Irving, Heyward, Paul George, and Lowry over Harden.
James Harden doesn’t even play defense like that’s half of the game he ignores.
I think he was misquoted. It should be teammate not teammates. They traded the rest of the team didn’t they?
Harden put up some great #s last year, but I’m not a fan of him trying to draw fouls all game. He doesn’t get those calls (well, some, but not all) in the playoffs. He won’t win a title drawing fouls. Overrated.
People worry too mich about player rankings thanks to ESPN releasing that stuff all the time. Contracts are based more on positional rankings because it is easier too quantify worth to skillset (ie value of a stretch 5 who rim protects vs a a play making point
I love all the people(mainly Dionis) excluding LeBron from top 5 in the league.
Here’s the real top 5.
1.LeBron
2.Kawhi
3. Durant
4. Russ
5. AD
If you want to go further here’s 6-10
6. Steph
7. Giannis
8. PG13
9. Wall
10. Kyrie
Thats a quality list. A few I might swap out at the end, but no one should get mad about this. I do think Harden is a better player than Kyrie though. They’re both garbage defenders, but Harden has a more versatile offensive game
Oh crap Idk how I forgot harden
Haha its all good. Not nearly as egregious as leaving LeBron off of your list like Dionis or having Cousin at 7 like Corleone. Surprised he doesn’t have Bledsoe on that list
Do you agree with LeBron at 1?
Dionis UMMMMMMMMMMMMM overpaid????? Not that good??????? Have u seen him play!!????!!