James Harden has agreed a three-year, $97million deal to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Harden was traded to the Cavs from the Los Angeles Clippers in February and helped them to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were swept by the New York Knicks.
He turned down his $42.3m player option earlier this offseason but, according to ESPN’s Shams Chanaria, Harden has now come to terms on a contract that features a player option and a trade kicker.
Chanaria revealed that the Cavaliers worked on contract structures with Harden from the outset of free agency, with a three-year deal preferred to allow them to get under the first and second apron spending thresholds.
In addition, Harden’s actions in declining his option and signing a three-year deal helped Cleveland facilitate a five-team trade for small forward Peyton Watson. Harden played a key role in recruiting Watson to the Cavs after a season in which the 23-year-old averaged a career-high 14.6 points per game for the Denver Nuggets.
Harden makes history with new deal
The deal will take Harden’s career earnings to $511m and see him join LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry as the fourth NBA player to surpass the $500m mark.
Harden, who turns 37 next Wednesday, will also join James as only the second player in NBA history to sign for over $90m in guaranteed salary aged 37 or older when the deal becomes official.
The 11-time NBA All-Star and former MVP averaged 20.5 points per game across 26 regular-season games for the Cavs last season. He shot 46.6 per cent from the field and 43.5% from three-point range.
He averaged 19.2 points per game in the playoffs, going 41% from the field and just 29.9% from beyond the arc.
