Harden jumps out of the player option and re-signs 1+1 contract to stay in the team Clippers

Clippers star James Harden jumped out of the last year's player option of $36.3 million. US Open ESPN reporter Shams Charania reported that the Clippers have agreed to re-sign a two-year $81.5 million contract to allow Harden to stay in Los Angeles. This new contract is also 1+1 in nature, and the second year is the player option.

Harden will turn 36 in August this year. He will play 79 regular season games with the Clippers this season, averaging 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Apart from Lakers star LeBron James, only Harden can still maintain averaging 22 points and 8 assists or above after he is 35 years old.

For the 2023-24 season, Harden averaged 16.6 points per game, for the first time since the Thunder era, the Clippers Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and other stars. Leonard was absent due to long-term injury this season, Westbrook and George turned to the Nuggets and the Nuggets 6 and 76, so Harden served as the main scoring force of the Clippers.

The Clippers hit fifth in the West this year, with 50 wins and 32 losses in the regular season, the same as the third place Lakers and 4th Nuggets, and lost to the Nuggets in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.