James Harden agreed to a new contract that will pay him $33 million for the 2022-23 season and has a player option of $35.6 million for 2023-24, a source confirmed Wednesday night to NBC Sports Philadelphia. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the terms of Harden’s Sixers deal. Since Harden declined his $47.4 million player option, it is understood that he would receive significantly less than that amount. Harden’s pay cut allowed the Sixers to sign P.J. Tucker on the standard mid-level exception and Danwell House Jr. on the twice-a-year exception. Had he exercised his option, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey would have had a much tougher task in pursuing an improved supporting cast around Harden and runner-up MVP Joel Embiid. “I had discussions with Daryl and it was explained to me how we could get better and what the market value was for certain players. I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever’s left over,” Harden told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes on Sunday. “That’s how bad I want to win. I want to fight for a championship. That’s all I care about at this point. I’m willing to take less to put us in a position to do that.” Because they used the exceptional and standard mid-level exceptions, the Sixers are “hard covered” this season in the luxury tax apron of about $157 million. Harden’s $33 million salary will put the team at about $153.6 million, per Spotrac. Including Harden, the Sixers have 12 players with fully guaranteed NBA contracts. Trevelin Queen and Charles Bassey are on partially guaranteed deals, while Paul Reed and Isaiah Joe are on non-guaranteed contracts. Charlie Brown Jr. and Julian Champagnie are the team’s current two-way players under contract. Undrafted rookie big man Michael Foster Jr. signed an Exhibit 10 contract last week. NBA teams can have up to 20 players during the offseason. They need to get it down to 15 plus two back-and-forth by the time the regular season starts. Below is a rough depth chart for the Sixers as things stand:
Point guard
James Harden, Shake Milton
Shooting guard
Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, Furkan Korkmaz, Isaiah Joe, Jaden Springer, Trevelin Queen
Small forward
Tobias Harris, Danuel House Jr., Matisse Thybulle, Charlie Brown Jr., Julian Champagnie
Power forward
PJ Tucker, Georges Niang
Centre
Joel Embiid, Paul Reed, Charles Bassey, Michael Foster Jr.
