James Harden did not officially opt in to his deal for the 22-23 season before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, a source confirmed to The Athletic.
"The paperwork was filed but they did not meet the buzzer for the opt-in," said Shams Charania on The Real Ones podcast. "He still has the option to opt-in in the summer. There was a time period where he could have opted in in conjunction with the trade. They ended up not filing the paperwork in time so a little bit of a procedural situation with the paperwork."
Harden could opt-in to his $47.4 million for 22-23 in late June and then sign a four-year, $223 million extension on top of that in August.
"We'll see what happens. I think the opt-in, obviously, will play itself out. I still think the intent is to opt-in."
