This offseason James Harden signed a new two-year contract with the 76ers. He is estimated to earn $33 million next season, per Spotrac.
Prior to this contract he was on a four-year deal (last year was a player option) that he signed in 2019 with the Rockets, making $42 million per year.
Therefore, Harden took a significant pay cut on his new contract. The 33-year-old superstar reportedly agreed to take less money to give more flexibility to his team.
According to Philadelphia’s general manager Daryl Morey, that was the reason why his team was able to sign Montrezl Harrell. Him and Harden having been teammates also played a role.
“He’s done more I think than maybe any star player’s ever done to take that much less money. We just got Montrezl Harrell. We couldn’t have done that without him taking less money and constantly talking to Trez,” Morey told John Clark of NBC Sports.