Right after the news broke that James Harden had been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the star guard would be exercising his 2022-23 player option worth $47,366,760. However, Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice later said Harden had actually not picked up that player option with the Sixers.
What happened here?
Well, Shams said on The Real Ones podcast that Harden didn't file the paperwork in time. Via RealGM:
“The paperwork was filed but they did not meet the buzzer for the opt-in. 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.”
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Harden has a business manager but doesn't have an agent, with it recently being reported by ESPN that he was shopping around for representation ahead of the blockbuster trade away from the Brooklyn Nets. Perhaps an agent would have actually helped him in this situation.
This mistake doesn't necessarily mean anything, though, because Harden can simply choose to exercise the player option with the Sixers in the offseason. Shams thinks that's what will ultimately happen, and it obviously makes plenty of sense given Harden wanted to be traded to Philly. But as we've come to learn with The Beard, things can change rather quickly.
So while there's no reason right now to expect Harden to do anything different, it will be a situation to monitor until he officially makes that opt-in decision.
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