Reject the $36.35 million player option! Sign a new contract with the team?

The Clippers lost to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs in the 2024-25 season. Harden performed poorly in the key game (only scored 7 points in the game), exposing the team's lack of stable scoring points at critical moments. Leonard is in a state that is unstable due to injury problems, and the team's overall competitiveness is limited, and it is difficult to become a strong contender for the championship in the short term. Therefore, Harden may have to choose to find a big contract for himself during the offseason!

Harden

If Harden jumps out of the player option (salary of $36.35 million next season) and signs a billion-dollar contract with the Clippers or other teams, the contract years may be limited (up to 2-3 years), and the annual salary may be lower than expected. In order to evade the "38-year-old rule", the team may prefer to provide short-term high-paying contracts (such as 80 million to 100 million US dollars in two years) rather than long-term contracts of RMB 100 million. This may allow Harden to earn about 20 million more before he was 38 years old, but this also destined that Harden may not have a championship in his career!

If Harden wants to win the championship, he needs to join teams such as the Celtics and the Timberwolves that have the ability to compete for the championship, but these teams usually have mature tactical systems and core lineups, and there is limited demand for Harden. In addition, Harden's playing style relies on ball holding and three-pointers, and there may be compatibility issues with the tactical system of some championship teams. Harden may face a salary cut. In the end, whether Harden can break out of the player option and sign a big contract depends on whether Harden still wants to compete for the championship in the end of his career. After all, Harden has turned 36 after the end of this season. However, with Harden's durability, he still played in the team's 79 regular season games this season, with an attendance rate of up to 95%. There are still many teams who want to sign James Harden!

Harden