Philadelphia sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two future first-round picks to nets James Harden and Paul Millsap, the tradable Nets traded with a B+ rating and Philadelphia's trade rating of C-, and it was clear that ESPN thought Philadelphia had lost a lot.
Why do you think Philadelphia has lost? First of all, Harden is 34 years old, and suffered a hamstring strain last season, he is different from Paul and James, Paul LeBron is very disciplined so the hamstring strain eventually healed, and Harden is a loose and clubbing athlete, his hamstring injury has not recovered, and Harden's weight is still growing, Harden is no longer that MVP level athlete.
BOBBY MAX, ESPN's salary structure expert, analyzed that Harden can jump out of the contract this summer to sign a 5-year super top salary worth 269 million yuan with Philadelphia, in other words, the 38-year-old Harden can hold a contract of about $62 million, he believes that after three years, people will feel that Harden's contract is no worse than Wall and Westbrook, and Harden's contract will become the worst contract in NBA history.
Do you think Philadelphia boss Josh Harris, who has more than $5.9 billion in assets, is a fool? Didn't he know Harden was almost 34 years old? He didn't know Harden was injured? He doesn't know Harden isn't disciplined enough? Such top traders definitely have their own considerations.
The deal has one key detail: As part of the deal, Harden needs to execute the 47.3 million player option next season. In other words, Harden must execute next season's player options unless he can negotiate a contract extension with Philadelphia. When this detail is introduced, the first condition for Josh Harris to reach a contract extension with Harden can only be to win the championship, and once he does not win the championship, Harris can look at Harden's state for a season.
This season Harden still has half a season of use rights, next season there is another season of use rights, Harris can look at Harden's performance and the team's record and then consider whether to extend Harden's long contract. Harden wants to stay is not so easy, even to sign a 5-year long contract is not very realistic, his performance, data are declining, he is no longer a top salary superstar This is clear to everyone.
(The key is that Harden's character has been poor to a certain extent, harden even if he forces the palace is not of much value, so ah, the ultimate initiative is in the hands of the boss rather than Harden)
Text/Yan Xiaobai