James Harden: $80m Extension With Rockets

revgen wrote:

Doc Brown wrote:They will make OKC choose between Harden and Ibaka, if they do offer him a contract.

Not necessarily. OKC still hasn't used their amnesty.

If it comes to it, I won't be surprised if they amnesty Perkins and sign some cheap fill-in center to keep both Ibaka and Harden. Perkins is nice to have for his pick-setting and his ability to defend post-up players like Bynum/Howard, Duncan, and Pau. But if they have to kick him out to keep Harden/Ibaka, they'll do it.

JSM wrote:If OKC is smart and they have to choose, they'll eep Harden and ship Westbrick out.

JSM wrote:If OKC is smart and they have to choose, they'll eep Harden and ship Westbrick out.

Thunder Signing James Harden 'Might' Be Impossible



Sam Presti didn't say that signing James Harden would be impossible.

It just seemed that way.
On the day that the Thunder held a press conference to tout the deal done with big man Serge Ibaka, the focus predictably turned to Harden. Signing Ibaka last month meant that three-fourths of the Thunder's young and talented core was secure. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Ibaka are all under contract beyond next season.

“James is somebody we value,” Presti said Monday afternoon. “We think he's an important part to what we're trying to do with our team and we're hopeful that he'll be with us.”

No doubt about that. Harden is super talented, a rare combination of shooter, slasher and distributor. His offensive skills provide an amazing complement to those of Durant and Westbrook.

“By the same token, we've been very upfront and transparent with everybody that we have some inherent challenges that we face as an organization as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement,” the Thunder general manager continued. “I know we'd love to have him here. I think James would like to be here as well. But at the end of the day ... you have to find a way to make it work for everybody.”
Notice those qualifiers in there? By the same token? But?

You don't have to read far between the lines to realize the reality — striking a deal with Harden is going to be like walking uphill on an icy sidewalk.
Darn near impossible.

The deadline to sign him is Oct. 31, so there's still a lot of time to hammer out the details. But Presti seems to be laying the groundwork for what will happen when a deal doesn't get done — Harden will become a restricted free agent next summer, some team will offer him an exorbitant amount of money that the Thunder won't be able to match, and Harden will be playing for another team after this season.
The problem is the luxury tax.

In the 2013-14 season, when the new contracts for Ibaka and Harden would begin, the luxury tax would kick in once a team's combined player salaries reach $72 million. The Thunder already has $53.9 million committed to Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins for that season.

The team could amnesty Perk, but unless some of these newly acquired bigs grow a serious nasty streak, I wouldn't recommend it.
But even if the Thunder ultimately cuts ties with Perkins, Harden would still have to sign for $10 million a year or so for the team to stay out of luxury-tax trouble. And even then, it might exceed the limit.

abeer3 wrote:yikes. they better get a good return in trade for him. he crapped the bed in the finals, but i'm not sure if they win a round in the playoffs last year without his early heroics.

revgen wrote:I like how the writer tries to write-off the Perkin's amnesty angle as if it's not even a possibility. If you want to keep Hardin, you've got to give Perkins the boot. If you want to keep Perkins, you let Harden go. There's no way around it.

Doc Brown wrote:^^Collison is signed until 2014-2015 for 2 million dollars. He's already signed to cheap.

revgen wrote:I like how the writer tries to write-off the Perkin's amnesty angle as if it's not even a possibility. If you want to keep Hardin, you've got to give Perkins the boot. If you want to keep Perkins, you let Harden go. There's no way around it.

John3:16 wrote:

revgen wrote:I like how the writer tries to write-off the Perkin's amnesty angle as if it's not even a possibility. If you want to keep Hardin, you've got to give Perkins the boot. If you want to keep Perkins, you let Harden go. There's no way around it.

Agree. And I think that was their thinking, as Perkins has no place on the court against Miami. However, a certain team in Southern California traded for a certain center that forces OKC to keep Perkins if they want to even think about getting back to the Finals (which I don't think they'll do).

PiNOYLaKERSFaN wrote:Even if they amnesty Perkins, they can still only offer Harden around $10-12 million per and I don't think Harden will leave THAT much money on the table when he gets offered contracts starting at $16 million per. I don't care if they consider themselves brothers, he's gone.