For months, James Harden’s future with the Philadelphia 76ers has been a talking point around NBA circles. Even at this point in his career, he should still gauge some interest as a free agent.
Harden is expected to decline his player option for the upcoming campaign, thus becoming an unrestricted free agent. Even so, not many teams will be willing to meet his reported salary pretensions.
That’s why, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic, the Houston Rockets are no longer interested in a reunion with him, as Harden isn’t interested in taking any sort of pay cut.
Rockets No Longer Want James Harden
“In recent days, I’ve understood that Houston is no longer an option for James,” Iko said. “I would call them out of the running. From the Rockets’ perspective, that makes sense, too, considering James was never interested in taking some kind of discount – not two years in a row. He made, what, $34-35 million this year? He could stand to make 50 to 52. He was not going to take a discount, and the Rockets were never going to pay him that kind of max money.”
The IkoSystem — Rockets Free Agency Preview x.com/i/broadcasts/1…
Clippers Are A New Dark Horse For Harden}
And now that the Rockets are no longer in the mix for his services, the insider points out that the Los Angeles Clippers could be another team to look out for in his sweepstakes:
“Another team that I’ve heard recently that is a dark horse, that’s kind of watching the situation is actually the Los Angeles Clippers,” Iko said. “Phoenix, the Bradley Beal trade took them out of the equation.”
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Rockets have a plan B if they don"t get James Harden back
Even so, the Clippers will have to figure out what to do with either Paul George and/or Kawhi Leonard before even thinking of making a run at Harden, which obviously makes it more difficult.
