"James Harden has essentially sat down with the Sixers leadership and talked about a way to improve their roster” - Adrian Wojnarowski highlights Harden’s critical role in 76ers’ offseason

After declining his $47 million player option, James Harden can now sign a deal that is much more conducive to the Philadelphia 76ers as an unrestricted free agent.

The active roster cap for the 76ers stands at $105,960,871. The majority of the cap accounts for Harden's $47.3 million player option. After declining, it gives the 76ers enough room to sign auxiliary pieces (like they are doing with P.J. Tucker).

Harden has yet to sign his contract, and many mock deals have been floated. ESPN's Bobby Marks suggested a contract mimicking Chris Paul's deal with the Phoenix Suns last year. Paul rejected his $44 million player option in 2021, signing a four-year extension with guaranteed money at the back end of his contract.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said:

"James Harden has essentially sat down with the Sixers' leadership and talked about a way to improve their roster. You've seen the commitments they've had from P.J. Tucker, from Daniel Haus.

"To be able to go out and get some ancillary pieces here in free agency that James Harden needed essentially to opt out of his contract and do a new deal to that allows the financial flexibility in Philly to essentially improve the supporting cast."

After landing Harden at the trade deadline in February, the 76ers will now look to make a push for the NBA championship. Joel Embiid suffered thumb and orbital injuries, defusing the 76ers' playoff run, which ended in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

However, Embiid and Harden's numbers still held up for the 11 games the two played together in the playoffs. Embiid averaged 23.6 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game, while Harden averaged 18.6 ppg and 8.6 assists per game.

James Harden's potential contract

James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Harden is due an extension with the 76ers. And Daryl Morey, who unloaded Ben Simmons' dead contract in exchange for Harden in February, is likely to point to other veteran superstars in the league to set a benchmark.

Chris Paul's deal is the most likely comparison, with LeBron James' deal coming in close at No. 2. Paul signed a four-year, $120 million deal, and LeBron is in the final year of his two-year, $85 million deal.

A deal resembling that of LeBron's is unlikely, because the 76ers would prefer not to take big cap hits in order to retool their bench. Philadelphia gave up a major portion of its bench to ship Simmons to Brooklyn in February.