James Harden has somewhat unexpectedly left his $35.6 million player option with the Philadelphia 76ers linger with free agency set to begin on Friday.
“If you’re declining the option, you don’t have to file any paperwork,” said Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday evening. “It’s just if you’re opting into it. James Harden’s got 24 hours.
“I think the plan as he did his deal last year was to go into free agency. He would opt out of his deal and then be able to do a long-term deal, presumably with the 76ers.
“Now, that $35 million option. If he opts into that, he could be traded. The Sixers then [could say] ‘You’re under contract, you could be moved.’
“I think for James Harden, he’ll take it down to the wire over the next 24 hours. If you’re James Harden and you get into free agency, you want to know that you’re going to get a quick resolution with the Sixers. Because the longer it drags out, money dries out elsewhere, you lose leverage.
“I think for Philadelphia, the real hang up, the real challenge is going to be how many years on a deal? I think getting near-max money… I don’t think it’s going to be dollars per season. It’s going to be how many years they want to invest in James Harden.”
Wojnarowski didn’t outline potential teams Harden could be traded to if he does opt-in with an eye on a potential trade. The Houston Rockets have long been considered the other team who could potentially sign Harden outright, but an opt-in-and-trade scenario opens up a number of other teams across the league.
