Earlier today, the 76ers challenged the Pistons away from home, a weak team, originally thought that the team would easily win to stop the decline of two consecutive losses, but did not want to maintain the lead at the end of the first three quarters of the 76ers, but in the last quarter suddenly lost power, was hit by the opponent a 29-15 shockwave, and finally lost to the Pistons 94-102, expanding their consecutive losses to the third game, ranking fourth in the East.
And the 76ers this upset loss to the Pistons, Harden's "war criminal performance" is absolutely responsible, this time Harden in the 38 minutes of playing time, only 15 shots only 4, only 18 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, while Embiid in the face of the Pistons' weak box, then continued his excellent play, 19 shots 11 cut 37 points and 15 rebounds of the big double-double. As the season progresses, harden and the 76ers' sweet days have come to an end, and his recent form has been extremely unstable, compared to the decisiveness that he just played for the team at that time, and now it is replaced by hesitation.
Against the Suns on March 28, Harden hit only 2 goals in 11 shots, only 14 points were recorded, although in the last game with the defending champion Bucks, the feel warmed up, 9 of 17 shots with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, but today Harden fell into a slump again, and a good and bad game basically became the "main theme" of the recent past. So far, Harden has played in 16 games for the 76ers, averaging 22.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game in 37.7 minutes of playing time, shooting only 41.3%, 34.3% and 88.6% of the three shots, respectively, and the overall performance has not changed substantially compared with the Nets this season.
At the end of the season, Harden will face 47.36 million player options, that is, he has the opportunity to jump out of the contract and sign another long contract with any team, and this time to the 76ers, Harden's potential contract extension team is naturally the 76ers. According to the previous sports illustrated reporter Chris Mannix revealed, Harden has the opportunity to reach a 5-year 270 million super salary extension with the 76ers in the offseason, if this contract is fully fulfilled, then Harden will turn 37 years old, but as far as his playing style is concerned, it is not ruled out that this contract may become a garbage contract in the final years. In this regard, the 76ers do maintain a cautious attitude, because their concern is that they are afraid that one day Harden will become a "high-paid and low-energy" player, such as the current Westbrook and Wall are the best lessons.
After playing today's game with the Pistons, the 76ers still have 6 games to play, the opponents are the Cavaliers, Pacers (two games), Raptors, Pistons, these teams are not the kind of power that can compete for the championship, so the next regular season has little reference significance, whether the 76ers are willing to renew Harden, it is estimated that the latter's performance in the playoffs can be decided. And Harden has proved more than once in the playoffs that he can't fight a hard battle, and it is indeed very difficult for the 76ers to suddenly change over.
At present, the final ranking of the 76ers is estimated to be third or fourth in the East, and the opponent in the first round is likely to be the Bulls or Raptors, these two teams are indeed slightly inferior to the Nets and Bucks, and Harden can also take the opportunity to quickly find the state of the playoffs, if he can play a good performance, the 5-year 270 million maximum salary contract can basically be firmly in the pocket.