A lot of players have been moved since the NBA’s free-agent market officially opened, but Houston Rockets star James Harden is staying put, apparently.
Harden signed a four-year, $118 million deal to remain with the team, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, which actually appears cheap comparing to some of the other contracts that were recently signed. Allen Crabbe garnered nearly $19 million/year, and Timofey Mozgov got $16 million/year, so this actually doesn’t seem too exorbitant.
Houston committed to its one and only star, but it’ll be interesting to see if this affects the team’s ability to sign free agents now and in the future. It’s no secret that some players don’t like to play alongside Harden, and there’ve been whispers of his teammates not being happy about his selfish play and lack of hustle on the defensive end.
Harden averaged 29 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game last season. He still had two years left on his current deal, which makes the timing of this extension a bit odd, but the Rockets clearly felt they needed to lock up their star through 2020 and that’s what they did.
