The Cleveland Cavaliers just signed James Harden to a brand new contract. He inked a three-year, $97 million contract with the Cavs. He’ll be with the team for a few years straight now, but it’s still a lot of money to pay a guy his age. And when you look at the deal Jalen Brunson is eventually going to land with the New York Knicks, Harden’s deal is going to make whatever it ends up being look like a steal.
Brunson is next-level. A proven 1A player and a good enough player to be the best guy on a title team. He’s probably going to get a max. Meanwhile, Harden got over $30 million in AAV, and he has a player option in the final year (and a trade kicker). That’s a tough deal for the Cavs to swallow.
The Knicks have their guy. They have a guy who can help them win a championship, and they’ll pay him as such. Meanwhile, the Cavs just handed a massive deal to a guy who has historically struggled in the playoffs, all while having two other max contracts on their books.
James Harden new contract will make Jalen Brunson's look great
Brunson is one of the best players in the league. A top-10 player in the NBA. And this past year, he finally proved exactly what he’s capable of at the highest level.
He led the Knicks on their first turtle run in 53 years, earning himself a spot in not only Knicks history, but NBA history as well. New York would not have been able to bring home the championship without Brunson’s contributions.
So, whenever the time comes to pay him, the Knicks should feel more than comfortable handing him a max contract, no matter how much that deal ends up being worth.
There are no questions regarding who Brunson is as a player. There are no questions regarding what he can bring to the table in the postseason. New York knows what its getting.
Even though Harden is going to be making a lot less on this upcoming deal than the one Brunson will end up signing, one deal will be much more worth it than the other.
Harden hasn’t proven to be a great playoff player. Cleveland may have ended up in the Eastern Conference finals this year, and Harden had some okay nights, but he also had some very bad nights.
Meanwhile, Brunson was the best player on a championship team this year. An elite scorer who raises his performance in the postseason.
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