Eleven-time NBA All-Star James Harden, who will turn 36 years old in August, has declined his $36.3 million player option and will return to the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year, $81.5 million contract,ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday. Playing alongside fellow future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard in their native Los Angeles, Harden averaged 22.8 points (on 41/35/87 shooting splits), 8.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 34.8 minutes per game over 79 starts this past season, leading the Clippers (50-32) to fifth place in the Western Conference. The veteran guard helped center Ivica Zubac enjoy a breakout season on offense, as he averaged a career-high 16.8 points per game. Zubac averaged 1.25 points on three pick-and-roll possessions per game, making him one of the league's best roll men from both a frequency and efficiency standpoint. Harden was great to start the Clippers' first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, totaling 32 points, 11 assists and six rebounds over 43 minutes of a 112-110 overtime victory in Game 1 of their series. As the best-of-seven set wore on, Harden wore down, and in Game 7 against the Nuggets he scored just seven points on 2-for-8 shooting in a 120-101 loss. It was the latest reminder of Harden's propensity to disappear in a series' biggest moments,a criticism that has followed the veteran throughout his career. It is the combination of that playoff history, his age and additional criticism about his off-court behavior that left Harden with few suitors when the Clippers traded minimal draft capital to acquire him from the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2023. At that time, Harden was begging off his third team in as many seasons, following a rift with executive Daryl Morey over a max contract he thought was owed to him. Nobody was offering Harden a max deal at that point, but the Clippers, with their deep pockets, granted him a two-year, $70 million contract extension in the summer of 2024.
