Is Harden still worth the top salary? Tencent netizens more than 80% believe that it is worth 7 reasons, and 76 people should be renewed with the top salary

When Harden faced the strongest opponent (the league's No. 1 Bucks), suffered the toughest difficulties (trailing by up to 18 points), but played the toughest key performance (19 points in the final quarter key offensive pass victory), and gave his best season performance (38+9+10 season high score), successfully ending the Bucks' longest 16-game winning streak of the season. Harden returned to the "Rockets" mode in World War I, so is Harden worth a five-year $270 million maximum salary contract today? According to Tencent News netizen voting, more than 80% of netizens recognize that Harden deserves a top salary, and the almost one-sided trend is a recognition of Harden's strength and value, and Harden averages 22+6+10 per game to lead the league's assist list, and 7 reasons also prove that the 76ers should renew his contract with a top salary this summer.

Harden's current contract was last summer, and he jumped out of the player option of the final year of his original contract and voluntarily cut his salary to help the team to recruit, thus signing a 1+1 contract with a total of $68.6 million. Harden's salary this season is $32.98 million, and next season's player option salary is $35.62 million.

With Harden's current competitive level, even if he is 33 years old, he still has the ability to earn more than $40 million, or even $50 million in annual salary. It's just that if Harden wants a five-year $270 million salary extension this summer, he can only stay with the 76ers, or reach a signing and then exchange with the 76ers, otherwise joining other teams will only be $210 million for four years at most.

Despite the current rumors of Harden returning to the Rockets, it is clear that the 76ers are the more likely team Harden will continue to choose this summer, after all, staying with the 76ers can guarantee the possibility of a championship, and the prospects for rebuilding the Rockets are uncertain. Harden is currently getting better with the 76ers, he has excellent chemistry with Embiid, and there is also hope to fight for a five-year, $270 million maximum salary contract.

Harden led the 76ers to an 18-point comeback and finally narrowly defeated the league's No. 1 Bucks 133-130, and he blasted 19 points in the final quarter to direct an 18-point comeback, and the whole game bombed 38+9+10 luxury statistics. Harden once again proved his super ability, and Tencent News netizens voted on whether he was still worthy of a maximum salary contract, and more than 80% of netizens recognized that he was still worthy of a top salary, almost crushing less than 20% of netizens who thought it was not worth a top salary.

As for whether Harden is worth a 5-year maximum salary contract, the final decision is still with the 76ers management, who need to renew the contract this summer to negotiate, and according to comprehensive analysis, there are 7 reasons to support that the 76ers should give Harden a maximum salary contract.

1. Leading the assist list, the brains of the league's top organization

So far this season, there are four players in the league who have averaged more than 10 assists per game, but Harden leads the list with 10.6 assists per game. Trae Young and Haliburton both averaged 10.1 assists per game, Jokic averaged 10 assists per game, and then only Morant averaged 8.2 assists per game. Harden still has a certain advantage in the assist list, which also makes him expected to hit the second assist king of his career.

Although Harden's offensive ability has declined from his peak, he is still the league's top playmaker brain, the backcourt core the 76ers need, and the strongest guard in team history since Iverson.

2. Harden is the perfect upgrade of Ben Simmons

The 76ers were eager to trade Harden because Ben Simmons was "fed up." Ben Simmons has no offensive desire, especially lack of outside three-point shooting ability, and free throws are also a big problem, which has become one of the important reasons for the 76ers' repeated losses in the playoffs.

The 76ers traded for Harden, who is still averaging 20+ points per game, currently averaging 22.1 points per game this season, ranking 24th in the league, and the team's second-largest scorer after Embiid. At the same time, Harden has an outside three-point threat, and more than 40% of his career as a three-point crosshair this season, which is naturally the perfect upgraded version of Ben Simmons.

3. Harden and Embiid's dual-core configuration has excellent chemistry

Embiid is currently the league's top center, even if he is not tough enough and likes to shoot from the outside at certain moments, but Embiid is still one of the league's top super interior linemen. Ben Simmons' "double emperor" combination with Embiid has proven to be a failure, and if Harden and Embiid partner for a second season, last season was only half a season together, due to injury factors that caused the playoffs to stop in the second round.

It's just that Harden and Embiid have excellent chemistry this season, Embiid ranks second in the league in scoring and only 0.4 points less than Doncic, while Harden averages 10.6 per game to assist first in the league. Harden and Embiid's internal and external dual-core configuration has become the key to leading the 76ers to the current top three in the East, especially when they led the team to end the Bucks' 16-game winning streak, both of which scored at least 30 points + 5 rebounds + 10 assists, becoming the fifth team in history to have two players on the same court to achieve such a feat.

4. The Bucks have all scored 30+ in three games this season to meet the needs of the playoffs

Public opinion is ridiculing that Harden is not good at playing tough battles, but this season against the current league No. 1 Bucks, Harden played 3 tough performances, and he scored 30+ points in 3 times against the Bucks.

Harden's three games against the Bucks this season, the specific numbers are as follows:

38 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and 1 steal, hit 5 three-pointers, and shot 61.6% from the field.

31 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals while shooting 60.2% from the field.

32 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, hit 4 three-pointers, and shot 71.8% from the field.

When Harden can play like this against the Bucks, once the playoffs encounter the Bucks are a direct championship opponent, the 76ers need Harden to continue to perform like this, and Harden has led the team to defeat the Bucks twice this season.

5. Harden can still restart Rockets mode at certain moments

There is no doubt that Harden can no longer return to the peak scoring mode of the Rockets era, after all, he is a three-time scoring champion in the Rockets. Harden has only made five 30+ times this season, the lowest in the last 11 seasons, compared to 57 30+ times in his peak season with the Rockets in 2018-19 and 44 30+ in 2019-20. Harden has played 30+ games in his last three seasons, 12, 10 and 5, for a total of 27.

However, just as Harden led the team to defeat the Bucks to complete an 18-point comeback, he restarted the "Rockets" mode again with 19 points in the final quarter, especially hitting a key three-point shot in the final moment, and also assisted Embiid to hit a three-point victory, becoming the number one contributor to ending the Bucks' 16-point winning streak.

6. Harden has made sacrifices for last year's salary cut and extension

Harden took the initiative to cut his salary last summer in order to help the 76ers free up salary space, and instead signed a 1+1 contract with the team to help the 76ers recruit Tucker, House and other top spots. Harden has already made a sacrifice, so he is likely to jump out of the player option again this summer, and the pursuit of a five-year, $270 million maximum salary contract is almost impossible to do.

The 76ers couldn't find a better Harden replacement

Although according to a previous report by Sam Amick, the probability of the 76ers renewing Harden with a maximum salary is 0. It's just that the 76ers will struggle to find a more suitable replacement for Harden this summer, and this summer's big-name free agent guards include Irving, Weston, VanVleet and Russell.

Irving is likely to seek a maximum salary extension to stay with the Lone Ranger, or switch to the Lakers to join James, and with Irving's "problem player" attribute, he is not suitable for partnering Embiid. As for the serious decline of West, it is also a version of Simmons, VanVleet and Russell's ability is still a bit different, so the 76ers to retain Harden is a more realistic way to remain competitive.

Whether Harden can get a five-year $270 million top salary this summer, whether he will stay with the 76ers or switch to other teams, it remains to be seen.

(Text/Drunken Lying Float)