Namita Trilok Chandra
22nd November 2020
Harden after shooting a three-pointer (Source: Houston Chronicle)
James Edward Harden Jr, or more professionally known as James Harden is a professional basketball player who plays for the NBA team Houston Rockets. He is one of the most outstanding shooting guards in the NBA. In the 2009 NBA draft, James Harden was the third pick by Oklahoma City Thunder. In the 2012-13 season, James Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets and was with the team for a long time.
In 2018 he was the highest-scoring player in the league and took home the prestigious Most Valuable Player award. He is also an eight-time NBA all-star and an Olympic gold medallist.
James Harden has an estimated net worth of $4,77,00,000. He also declined a massive contract extension worth $10.3 crores and requested a trade from the Houston Rockets. James Harden stands at the seventeenth position on Forbes's list of world's highest-paid athletes.
The American shooting-guard has a shoe contract with the famous sports brand Adidas worth $1.5 crore per year and has also been endorsed by brands like Dynamo, Body Armor, Electronic Arts and State Farm.
After requesting a trade from the Houston Rockets, a number of NBA teams wanted to rope in this star shooting guard. However, James Harden is eyeing one specific team, the Brooklyn Nets. The team already has a star players Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and the addition of James Harden will definitely make them one of the strongest on paper.
The Brooklyn Nets general manager, Sean Marks spoke to the media and has dropped hints in an extremely subtle manner about the deal coming through. According to The Athletic, Sean Marks said, "If you put it like 'mortgage' the future, I'd probably say no. There becomes a fine line where this is what we're willing to do, not only in a trade for a star but every trade, we want to build something sustainable. This isn't something that's a fleeting moment, go all-in and a year or two from now we're here now we've got to completely rebuild, and we don't have assets to rebuild with. There's the other side of taking advantage of what we have right now, taking advantage of the moment. We obviously have a talented group we can put on the court as is until we know what deals are being offered or we're offering, it'd be difficult to say. But mortgaging your future? No, we wouldn't want to do that."
The real question remains, will James Harden join the Brooklyn Nets? We'll have to wait and see what is in store for this legend.
(Sources: Fox Sports, Republic World, Sportytell, ESPN, The Athletic)
Edited by: Suditi Jha