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Report: $70 Million Clippers Star Trending Towards Declining Player Option for 2025-26 Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By John Vaccaro | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 3:52 PM ET

Before the Los Angeles Clippers can begin looking to improve their roster this offseason, they have a key player currently on their team whose contract situation needs to play out.

Star guard James Harden only has a player option for the 2025-26 season left on his current contract.

That option is worth $36.35 million for next season and fans have been waiting to see if Harden will pick it up.

The answer is beginning to become more clear based on a recent report.

According to Hoops Hype's Michael Scotto, Harden is "leaning towards" declining the option.

Scotto added that Harden and the Clippers are still interested in keeping Harden in LA and a new deal would likely keep him with the team of the next two seasons to line up with the time remaining on Kawhi Leonard's contract.

Harden is coming off of a season for the Clippers where he earned All-NBA Third Team honors.

He averaged 22.8 points per game, 8.7 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game during the regular season.

Harden also put together a decent defensive season, which hasn't always been the case in his career.

By declining his player option, he'll be looking to turn his 2024-25 performance into a bit of a pay bump and a longer commitment from the Clippers.

If the Clippers are going to keep themselves hanging around the top of the Western Conference, they'll need to work out a deal to keep Harden around as there aren't many realistic options out there for them to acquire a player of his caliber.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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