NBA Rumors: James Harden Wants Long-Term Contract to ‘End Career’ With Clippers

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James Harden is reportedly hoping to sign a long-term contract and end his career with the the Los Angeles Clippers, B/R and TNT’s Chris Haynes reported during Tuesday’s matchup between the Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The veteran point guard will be an unrestricted free agent following the 2023-24 season.

If it feels similar to something you may have heard in the past, well… that’s because it is.

In October, before he forced his way out of Philadelphia, Harden told reporters that he had “wanted to retire a Sixer” but “the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”

But that wasn’t the only time.

In 2021, Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai told Brian Lewis of the New York Post that Harden had expressed a desire to finish his career in Brooklyn.

“Yeah, whether or not it’s the season now or later, the way I look at it is he’s already said I want to play and finish my career in Brooklyn: He’s actually said that,” Tsai noted. “And our job is to make sure that he continues to feel that way. Obviously, if we win a championship and also have the chance to win multiple championships down the road, that’s going to be even more convincing, more compelling.”

They didn’t win any championships and that situation ended with Harden forcing a trade to Philly.

OK, but surely that’s the only other time Harden expressed an interest in retiring with his current team, right?

You already know the answer. These were Harden’s words back in 2017, after signing an extension with the Houston Rockets:

“It’s rare that you feel so welcome, that you feel like you’re at home and feel like every single day you wake up to go to work and have people around you to motivate you, that push you to be better, that you love to be around. That’s another reason I signed the extension. I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to deal with free agency. I know where home is. I know where I want to be. I know where I want to retire ultimately. And I know where I want to win a championship. Everything is going to happen in Houston.”

Spoiler alert: None of it happened in Houston. Or Brooklyn. Or Philadelphia. Whether it happens in Los Angeles remains to be seen. The Clippers have been very good since Harden arrived, but his teams were initially good after his arrival at past stops, too.

And the elephant in the room is that the Clippers have already committed a reported $52 million to Kawhi Leonard next season as part of his three-year, $153 million contract extension, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and are “having ongoing extension talks with Paul George and want to have both of their stars lined up on longer-term contracts.”

George will get a similar deal to Leonard if he agrees to an extension, most likely, while the team already has about $42 million committed to Norman Powell, Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann, all key role players. If P.J. Tucker opts into an $11.5 million player option, that figure goes up even higher.

The point here is that Harden—who seemingly forced his way out of Philadelphia because he wasn’t being offered the long-term, max extension he was expecting—may find himself in a similar position in Los Angeles, where the Clippers would potentially have to dip well past the second tax apron to offer him such a deal.

And is the 34-year-old Harden even worth a max deal at this point? He’s averaging 17 points and 8.4 assists per game with the Clippers, but he’s clearly lost a step and is the team’s third-best player. At his age, is that worth the many penalties the team would accrue by dipping into that second apron?

That’s for the Clippers to decide. Perhaps with some clever roster reworking and cap gymnastics they’ll be able to pull off the feat. But if they aren’t willing to splash the cash to keep him, don’t be surprised if all of that “retiring with the Clippers” talk is quickly forgotten.