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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."

Via Shams Charania/The Athletic

....unless the pairing with Embiid is a complete disaster. I would not be surprised one bit if Harden is keeping his options open for the possibility of free agency.

If im sixers I cancel the trade

No need for Philadelphia fans to be nervous. Hardin is a level headed guy who’s not prone to change his mind or go back on a promise. Is he?

I can’t believe the 76ers are so incompetent that this wasn’t handled before the deadline. Incredible. But they deserve whatever happens.

thats a w for philly, one less year of post prime harden to worry about trying to trade in 3 years.

So they want us to believe this was just an accidental, bureaucratic slip up?

Better have player contract under control, but for PHI, in case it doesn't work, what is better ?
- loosing Harden this summer for nothing, which would be like trading the players they sent for nothing and get cap relief
- having waited this summer and creating cap room by trading away more salaries to sign him for 3 or 4 years, and realize that it doesn't work, and needed to trade him after that

Too busy checking out the strip clubs in the area.

LeBron hoping Sixers will go for a S&T, Harden for Westbrook/2027 1st

on accident....

Lol

I'm sure it was an honest mistake & not a leverage pay to ensure that Philly agrees to extend him before he opts in.

lol

He's already giving himself an out to quit on the Sixers this offseason before he's even suited up for them. Enjoy, Philly!

LOL. Now I really want to see Harden go to the West coast this summer.

Your daily "Joel, GET OUT NOW" post.

kenwood3333 wrote:Too busy checking out the strip clubs in the area.

To be fair he meant to fax it from the club.

Bentley1225 wrote:LeBron hoping Sixers will go for a S&T, Harden for Westbrook/2027 1st

lol, that isn't happening.

Dudes gonna wind up back in Houston at this rate.

Off to a great start in Philly.