James Harden’s Sacrifice Is No Sacrifice At All — An Open Letter
Dear James,
Though your decision to force your way out of Brooklyn has aged well, it’s the second time you’ve done this in the past five years. The media has chosen to forget the times you’ve quit on your numerous teams while consuming over a quarter of their respective payrolls. Yet, despite the newest wave of player-empowerment controlling media narratives, your action of opting out of your player option and taking a fifteen million dollar pay cut is unrelatable and too little, too late.
Congratulations on earning over two-hundred-twenty-million dollars in your career then proclaiming you want to win with an underlying tone of total sacrifice. The Philadelphia strip clubs must be in shambles — a true day of mourning for the institutions that will suffer from your noble oblation. Will the humble salary of thirty-three million dollars motivate you to work your way back to being a Super-Max-worthy player? Is your lack of game-winning plays a result of will, ability, or a shift in the style of game-play and officiating?
Maybe all three?
Will the powerhouse additions of Daniel House and thirty-eight-year-old P.J. Tucker push the team over the edge in an Eastern Conference stacked with more talent than it’s had… maybe ever? Can Joel Embiid sustain a level of dominance that will both lead the team to a strong enough playoff seed to make a deep run, then ascend further to prevail in a series over the Bucks and/or Celtics, both of which feature more high-end talent and back-end depth?
Or was this simply a move to guarantee yourself more money in the future? You’ll be thirty-three when the 2022/2023 NBA regular season starts, so if you signed a Super-Max now, you’d be thirty-seven when the likely-four-year deal expired. How much money will you be worth to an NBA franchise in 2026? Is it less than, I don’t know, say… two years, sixty-eight million dollars?
Apparently, that’s a bet you’re willing to take.
Enjoy peaking in the second round next year again, James, and please, for the love of all that is right, keep that money raining in Philly, they need you.
Best,
Nick Atwood.
