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Houston Rockets Owner Leslie Alexander announced yesterday that the team has signed guard James Harden to a four-year contract extension that will take him through the 2019-20 season.
According to Sports Illustrated, “Harden was already under contract through the 2017–18 season on a five-year, $78 million rookie extension.”
Harden’s new extension is reportedly a $118 million dollar contract over four years.
A very efficient offensive player who is one of the league’s best players at getting to the foul line, Harden’s defensive ability and focus continues to need improvement.
Since being acquired by the Rockets in October of 2012, Harden has been selected to four straight All-Star Games and has been named to an All-NBA Team three times, including First Team in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Harden’s teams have made the playoffs in each of his seven NBA seasons and have advanced to the Conference Finals three times, including a Finals appearance in 2011-12. His teams have also never posted a losing record and have won 50-plus games four times. In 2014-15, Harden finished second in voting for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award and was named MVP at the National Basketball Players Association’s inaugural Players Awards. That season, Harden led the Rockets to their first division title since 1993-94 and their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 1996-97.
This past season, Harden averaged career highs in scoring (29.0 ppg), rebounding (6.1 rpg), and assists (7.5 apg). He became the fourth different player in NBA history to average at least 29.0 points, 7.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds in a single season, joining LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson. Harden also became the fourth different player to average at least 27.0 points, 7.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in multiple seasons, joining John Havlicek, James, and Robertson.
