The NBA will soon add a former Philadelphia 76ers player to the historical $500 million club. On Thursday, the 11-time NBA All-Star James Harden signed a three-year, $97 million contract to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
At the moment, there are two players in the $500 million club (Kevin Durant and LeBron James), but in the coming years, Harden will join them alongside the Golden State Warriors guard, Steph Curry.
How much did the 76ers contribute to the club?
So far, only one of these players suited up for the Sixers. James Harden landed with the team during the 2021-2022 season, after he was traded by the Brooklyn Nets. At the time, Harden was in the second-to-last season of his four-year, $171 million deal. He famously declined his $47.3 million player option in 2022, in order to sign a discount with the Sixers.
That discounted contract turned out to be a two-year, $68.6 million deal. The Sixers paid out only $33.0 million of it. While Harden picked up his player option for $35.6 million in the following season, it went on the Los Angeles Clippers' books after he forced a trade.
The $500 million club has 10 contributors at the moment. The Sixers have invested a list-low of $49.2 million. The next team at No. 9 is the Miami Heat, who paid out $64.01 million to LeBron James.
Here's the best part: the Sixers are going to be the fourth team on the list to add to LeBron James' career earnings, but it still won't get them close to the Heat in the rankings. After collecting $52.6 million of his two-year, $101.3 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron agreed to a $3.8 million salary with the Sixers for next season. If he picks up his player option, then he earns just $7.9 million total with the 76ers.
The other contributors
Some teams got their money's worth. Golden State tops the list at $551 million for their investments in Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. They had one of the best teams in all of sports.
The Lakers are second on the list for paying LeBron $347 million. That's an expensive championship that they bought. The Houston Rockets (No. 3), Brooklyn Nets (No. 4), Phoenix Suns (No. 7), and the Los Angeles Clippers (No. 8) look the worst. They either paid a lot in a short period of time, or didn't do enough with their big spending.
Cleveland will get laughed at these days for their Harden deal, but they paid LeBron James rightfully so. The Oklahoma City Thunder spent big on their homegrowns; it didn't work out, and they properly executed the rebuild that followed.
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