🏀Basketball Sixers Are Between a Rock and a Hard Place With James Harden’s Future

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How the Philadelphia 76ers Handle James Harden’s İmpending Free Agency Could Determine the Franchise’s Path For The Next Half-Decade.

Ask members of the Philadelphia 76ers fanbase how they feel about James Harden right now and the answers will range from absolute disgust to, well, absolute disgust. Harden dropped an all-time nothingburger in the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, scoring nine points on 11 shots and committing five turnovers to complement his seven assists.
Harden has quite the mounting track record of elimination game flameouts, but one could argue Sunday was his worst yet. He was passive and completely uninspired, allowing Boston’s defense to lock him out of the paint and completely disrupt his two-man actions with Joel Embiid.

Sad but true is the fact that Harden probably wasn’t the worst MVP winner on the floor for Philly in Game 7. But with Embiid cemented as the Sixers’ centerpiece for better or worse, the onus of Philadelphia’s offseason lies on James Harden.

Should The Philadelphia 76ers Re-Sign James Harden… And Can They?​

The Sixers have several impending free agents but Harden is the true free agent of consequence. He is widely expected to opt out of his current deal in search of one final long-term contract before he ages out of stardom. Currently 33 years old, Harden has already declined significantly since his prime days in Houston.

Philadelphia has the ability to offer Harden roughly $210 million over four or five years due to the CBA’s Over-38 rule. That would be a significant investment in an aging star who will almost certainly not produce at the necessary level by the end of that contract. In fact, it’s getting harder to argue that the Beard can produce at the necessary level in the present.