Sacrifice 100 million US dollars in 4 years, but draw water with a bamboo basket! Say goodbye to the championship, and you won't get the top salary

Lao Liang commented

2024-05-25 22:54Posted in Shandong Sports Creator

This season, the NBA has reached the division finals stage, and it has become extraordinarily quiet. In Lillard's words, the remaining four teams, some of which are not even considered favorites to win the championship, make it hard to watch the show. The Pacers in the East counterattacked all the way, picking off the Bucks and the Knicks successively; The Mavericks in the West eliminated the Clippers and the Thunder, and when it came to the Western Conference finals, the Timberwolves won two games in a row at home, and when James + Durant + Curry and other legendary supergiants still had the power to fight, the young people were too fast as a whole. The teams that have been out of the tournament are brewing changes and improvements. The 76ers cast a wide net, from Mitchell to LaVine, from Klay to Paul George, they don't pick and choose, and when they pick up the basket, they are vegetables. The Suns let Budenholzer take over, but they were unwilling to tear up the Big Three. The Warriors plan to dispose of Paul's contract and make significant savings, while the Lakers plan to build around thick eyebrows.

But the Clippers are in the toughest situation. Since Leonard joined Paul George, there was infighting in the first year, and every year since then, Leonard has suffered various injuries or direct season reimbursements, and the team has played the highest Western Conference finals. The point is that Leonard's 3-year, $152 million contract extension is early, which is a bit of a backstab to George. Leonard's purpose is good, to free up more salary space for Harden, but George just wants a big contract! Five months could not get George and the Clippers to come to an agreement, and George's departure from the Clippers was a foregone conclusion. It's just that the way George left, the Clippers want to dominate, such as signing first and then trading, and the Knicks also have the intention to have chips. George can't go, in fact, it doesn't have that much impact on the Clippers as a whole, but what about Harden? Sacrifice 100 million US dollars in 4 years, but draw water with a bamboo basket! Say goodbye to the championship, and you won't get the top salary.

Let's start with two inconspicuous details. Clippers President Frank confirmed that the team has sought to retain the core framework in the offseason, but there are also big challenges! There are indeed some differences between the Clippers and Harden's agent on the new contract communication, from the contract period to the specific amount, but there is a ceiling standard, 3 years and 150 million US dollars, this is the money taken by the team's boss Leonard, George cannot exceed, and Harden is even worse, after all, Harden is the nominal third core! In addition, according to Amic analysis, the Clippers, or other teams interested in Harden, Harden will be 35 years old next season + go downhill quickly (reflected in the data, no one cares about your efficiency, especially when talking about money), Harden is very likely to get a 2+1 or only 1+1 contract, because the last contract that Harden humiliated himself was the 1+1 attribute and was pitted miserably!

After calculating it, Harden was in the Rockets period, and the veteran clause was formulated in 17 years, and Harden reached a 4-year $170 million contract extension with the Rockets in advance, and from 17-23 years, Harden could actually get $228 million, the largest contract in history at that time. By '20, owner Fertitta offered him a two-year, $103 million contract extension, but Harden refused. To put it simply, if Harden stays with the Rockets, he will already get a salary of 50 million this season! Including after joining the Nets for his first season, the Nets offered Harden a three-year, $160 million early contract extension with a final year's salary of $59 million, but Harden refused, according to the media, Harden wanted to wait until the summer of 22 to sign a four-year $223 million! never thought that half a year later, Harden took the initiative to leave the Nets and join the 76ers. If Harden doesn't go, from '22 to '26, he can get $210 million!

But what about the actual situation? After jumping out of the player option worth $47 million, Harden signed a 1+1 contract with the 76ers, with a two-year contract of $68.6 million, and in the last four years alone, the loss has exceeded $100 million! This is a rough calculation, the key is that in these 4 years, Harden has dropped from an average of 34.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game during the Rockets period (19-20 season) to an average of 16.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game this season, the efficiency has not decreased, and the number of shots has dropped from 22.3 to 11.4, and Harden has no whistle! In the words of columnist Pickett, Harden is a historical star, but it's hard to imagine that he said he wanted to play until retirement on all four teams, but turned around and left! Will such a star be given a contract with a maximum salary by the team?

The most important thing is that Harden lost the trust and support of the league and many teams because of his breaking in the Rockets, and in the past few years, various individual honors have basically not been named by Harden, even if he led the Nets to the first place in the East, including his ability to guarantee the lower limit. And in the Clippers, although the situation is much better than that of the Nets and the 76ers, at least Leonard's attitude towards Harden is very different from Durant and Embiid, Leonard fully supports, and is even willing to reduce his salary, just to keep Harden, but this also means in disguise that Harden's contract will not exceed 3 years at most, let alone the previous contract level (salary of $35.7 million this season). Harden himself said that he joined the Clippers for an environment where he could get a contract and have a chance to win a championship. But the big contract is gone!

Leonard's selfless mind can tolerate Harden and will not shirk responsibility. But in the playoffs for 4 consecutive years, Leonard is either injured or reimbursed for the season, and the person who can lead the Clippers to break through the ceiling is not there, then everything is 0, even if the Clippers get the first place in the West in the regular season! Leonard is also 33 years old and his physical condition will definitely decline. And there are no more than two choices in front of Harden, leaving the Clippers, the contract he gets may not be big, but no championship-level team is willing to get him, and there is no salary space, even if he signs first and then changes. Staying with the Clippers, in fact, Leonard is not worth trusting. After sacrificing $100 million in 4 years, in exchange for a bamboo basket, Harden is actually quite pitiful.

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