MOVE over, Wardell Stephen Curry II, a two-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (2015 and 2016) who on June 30 agreed to a new five-year, $201-million deal with the reigning league titlist Golden State Warriors.
That’s because one week and a day later, the record for the richest contract in NBA history no longer belongs to him.
Last July 8, Houston Rockets guard James Edward Harden Jr., accepted a four-year, “super-maximum” contract extension that is projected to be worth $170 million or more and will guarantee him at least $228 million through the 2022-23 season. This will be the largest ever NBA contract extension.
Adding the two years and $58.72 million remaining on his current pact with the Texas squad (which came about as a result of Harden’s inking a four-year, $118.1 million contract extension on July 9, 2016 with an early-termination option in the final year), the 6-foot-5 guard will be earning $228 million (or more) over the next six seasons for the richest player contract in league history, surpassing Curry’s new deal that makes the 6-foot-3 long-range bomber the first NBAer ever to reach the $200-million plateau.
Harden, who turns 28 in August, will earn $28.299399 million in 2017-18 and $30.421854 million in 2018-19.
Depending on how the NBA salary cap escalates each year, Harden’s annual stipend under the extension will vary although he is expected to bankroll $37.8 million in 2019-20.
The salary upgrade will go up to $40.8 million in 2020-21, $43.8 million in 2021-22 and $46.8 million in 2022-23.
Harden is taking advantage of a provision in the new labor contract (collective bargaining agreement), which takes effect starting the 2017-18 season, that allows contract extensions for top-tier players such as Harden.
“The Beard” became eligible to add four years to his current contract after securing a berth on one of the three All-NBA teams this past campaign.
During the 2016-17 wars, the California-born Harden played point guard for the Rockets for the first time in his pro career under NBA Coach of the Year Mike D’Antoni, pacing the NBA in assists (11.2 apg) and ranking second in scoring (29.1 ppg) while norming 8.1 rebounds in 81 appearances – an eight-year career high in all three categories.
Harden also placed second in the MVP polls for the second time in three years and was the lone unanimous selection on the All-NBA First Team in media balloting – the third time in four years that the Arizona State product was a first-team pick following selections in 2014 and 2015.
With the arrival of playmaker de luxe Chris Paul in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers in late June, Harden is likely to revert to his old role of 2-guard with the Rockets, who produced the third-best regular record (55-27) in the NBA last season.
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Avery Antonio Bradley Jr., the final link to the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen Big 3 era in Beantown, became the scapegoat – a salary cap casualty – in the Boston Celtics’ pursuit of Utah Jazz free agent Gordon Hayward.
But there’s more work to do by the Celtics to help Hayward secure a maximum contract.
Already Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, has also pulled its qualifying offer to Kelly Olynyk (making the Canadian frontliner an unrestricted free agent and who has since inked a four-year, $50 million-plus deal with the Miami Heat). The club must likewise renounce veteran free agents Jonas Jerebko, James Young and Gerald Green, trade Terry Rozier, and then waive the non-guaranteed contract of Jordan Mickey. Additionally, it has another partially non-guaranteed pact in second-year point guard Demetrius Jackson, who could be waived or traded.
Even then, the Celtics will still be about $300,000 shy of rewarding Hayward a maximum contract with a first-year salary of $29.444533.
Could small forward Jae Crowder, who has three years left and $21.9 million in his contract, also be on the way out?
The Celtics need to prepare for the impending free agency of All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, who led the all East players in scoring last season with an NBA third-best 28.9-point average, in the summer of 2018.
Thomas, who has a year left on his contract, will attract huge offers from other teams if the 5-foot-9 guard opts to try his luck in the open market. A contract extension may now be in the offing.
The Celtics peddled seven-year veteran guard Bradley (along with a 2019 second-round draft pick) to the Detroit Pistons (for Marcus Morris) to clear salary-cap space in preparation for the entry of Hayward and his proposed four-year, $128-million maximum deal, possibly through a sign-and-trade agreement with the Jazz.
Bradley, who had been in Hub City since breaking into the NBA in 2010-11, is coming off a career-high 16.3 points and 6.1 boards in 55 games with the Celtics (he missed 22 games in January-February due to a right Achilles tendon injury). The 6-foot-2 guard is entering the final season of a four-year, $32-million pact and is scheduled to earn $8.8 million in 2017-18.
The 6-foot-9 Morris, who turns 28 in September and is the twin brother of Washington’s Markieff Morris, has two years left on his current deal and will be making $5 million in 2017-18.
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