During the 2017-18 season, we saw James Harden win the MVP award with the Houston Rockets, and there was no doubting his status as a premier superstar. Five years later, Harden has shown that he is still a good player during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers, but no longer a superstar-caliber presence that can bring a team to wins by himself.
A recent report from Steve Bulpett of Heavy shared the words of an NBA executive, who harshly claimed that James Harden’s days as a “max, alpha player” in the league are over.
“So James is in that unfortunate circumstance that we talk about all the time. Who’s the last person to know it’s over? The player. His status as a max alpha player in this league, it’s over. He can’t produce wins.”
The executive then further elaborated on his position, noting that there is no justification for giving Harden a max contract.
“He can get numbers; he can help a team,” the exec said. “But he’s not a max player anymore. You can’t justify it. The unfortunate part is that more and more of us are going to metrics, and there’s nobody’s metric measurement that looks at him and his efficiency and what he gives up defensively and says, ‘Oh, yeah, this is a guy we should max out.’”
It is fair to say that James Harden is not the player that he once was in the league. However, we have seen No. 2 options in the league get max contracts in recent memory. For example, Karl-Anthony Towns signed a four-year, $224 million contract extension in 2022. Of course, Towns is younger than Harden, but it is clear that Harden should still command max money or close to it, even if it’s on a shorter-term deal.
This season, James Harden averaged 21.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 10.7 APG for the Philadelphia 76ers. Those are clearly the numbers of a star, and we’ll see if Harden gets the contract he desires this offseason.
There Will Be Other Teams Besides The 76ers Who Will Target James Harden
Even though the 76ers will likely try to re-sign James Harden, other teams will likely have an interest in him as well. In fact, the point guard has recently been linked to the Phoenix Suns.
We will see where James Harden ends up in the future. He will likely prioritize getting the most money and also being in a competitive situation, and there are a number of destinations that fit.
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