For the Philadelphia 76ers, this offseason will undoubtedly be an extremely bitter summer! Because their team fired championship-level coach Dougrieves and ultimately failed to keep point guard James Harden, this may even make Embiid care, and for a while this championship team is very likely to become a league belly next season! But for Houston Rockets fans, it's undoubtedly going to be an extremely exciting summer, because their star is finally coming home three years after his departure! In the past three years, due to the loss of James Harden, they have been reduced from a Western Conference finalist team to a super fishbelly, and the record is the bottom one in the West every year. Harden's return means that the hard life is over, and next season is about to come to an end!
Earlier, according to Philadelphia 76ers reporter Keith Pompey, multiple sources revealed that James Harden is expected to reunite with his old club Houston Rockets as a free agent. As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a shock among the fans, and at the same time it was a few joys and several sorrows! Philadelphia fans are instantly heartbroken, Rockets fans are bound to rejoice, and the mood of the two teams of fans is very different! Harden's departure meant that the 76ers were out of the championship race, and the Diden combination ended in failure. Harden's choice to return to the Rockets fully demonstrates the determination of the Rockets management to build the team's competitiveness, and after three years of sinking, they refuse to be lambs to be slaughtered again!
Since the team's firing of former coach Silas, the Rockets have been determined to bounce back to the playoffs next season. When choosing Uduka as the new coach of the team, general manager Stone said that he was interested in Uduka's talent, wisdom and big picture, and he believed that Uduka could lead the Rockets out of the troubles to return to the playoffs, and then go to the championship!
In fact, as early as before the start of this year's playoffs, there were reports at that time that many insiders in the league thought that Harden's return to the Rockets was almost certain! Everyone may not take this statement seriously, but when the Philadelphia 76ers lost the second-round tie-for-seven battle against the Boston Celtics, everyone vaguely felt that the probability of Harden returning to the Rockets increased dramatically. Because the 76ers have made Harden see no hope of competing for the championship, and he can only be Embiid's helper here, it is really better for him to return to the Rockets as the team boss and live a comfortable life! More importantly, he has 35.6 million player options for next season and a trade veto, so he has absolute choice over where he plays next season!
Choosing to leave Philadelphia and the 76ers to return to the Rockets means that Harden will say goodbye to a 5-year 272 million maximum salary contract! Because he can only get his biggest contract if he re-contracts the 76ers, so why would Harden do this? Because the rocket gives no worse than this! Recently, Brian Windhorst talked about the situation related to James Harden on the show. Windhorst said there was a "strong will" within the league to sign Harden to a four-year contract worth more than $200 million.
The new contract exceeds 200 million for 4 years plus the privileges of the team boss, which is probably the fundamental reason why Harden chose to return to the Rockets! Because you can continue to sit on the top spot of the rocket without much loss in money, isn't this better than taking 272 million incense in 5 years in Philadelphia? What's more, Philadelphia does not necessarily give a 272 million contract extension.
It can be seen that Harden's choice to return to the Rockets is definitely the wisest choice, which will also make him completely win! If he can lead the Rockets back to the playoffs next season, he will be an All-Star again! In the face of such a big temptation, in fact, anyone else may choose to return to the Rockets instead of continuing to stay in Philadelphia! What do you think about this?