CHICAGO - James Harden has three years and $131.4 million left on the five-year extension he signed last July 2017.
When that contract expires in 2023, Harden, who became a Rocket in 2012, will pocket a total of $266.7 million in salaries, per BasketballReference.com. He also has a 13-year endorsement deal with Adidas worth $200 million.
But the zeroes that really matter here involve his legacy.
Zero rings. Zero NBA Finals appearances as a Rocket.
Despite those ugly donuts, the Rockets still offered, more like begged, Harden to stay in Houston by offering him a two-year $103 million extension through 2025 when The Beard would be 36 and probably a step slower.
So why are the Rockets desperately hanging on to the unlucky No.13 jersey that is soaked with the tears of multiple playoffs disappointments?
Because he is the franchise. And he brings in the business.

Harden is as identifiable to Rockets fans as the overlapping M logo is to the McDonald's franchise.
Numbers have always left me blank in wonders, so don't trust my math here. But I don't need an economics degree to understand that without Harden the Rockets aren't worth the $2.2 billion Tilman Fertitta paid to acquire the team.
If you're a Rockets fan, try to wrap your brain around the idea that going to home games at the Toyota Center when the pandemic is over will only feature P.J. Tucker and Eric Gordon as the "star attraction."
Yuck.
If it's any consolation, Trevor Ariza is headed back to Houston following a trade that would send Robert Covington to Portland.
But wait, isn't this the same Trevor Ariza who went 0-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-9 from 3 when the Rockets choked at home in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the rampaging Warriors?
DAMN RIGHT IT IS.
Realizing that his championship window is sealed shut in Houston, Harden is angling for a trade. Preferably to Brooklyn or to Philadelphia where he can reunite with former Rockets GM Daryl Morey.
For a Rockets franchise that seemed to have devoted its existence to enable, placate, and surrender to the whims and caprices of a superstar - trading and acquiring players and allegedly hiring and firing coaches to suit his needs - it must be so crushing to see that Harden wants out.
And to assert that demand so publicly adds insult to the injury.
Just as Anthony Davis forced his way out in New Orleans, Harden will eventually exit Houston because it's bad for business to keep an unhappy employee who will likely no longer give his optimum effort until his wish is granted.
I've always been pro labor, an advocate for good pay and a healthy, safe workplace.
But I'm also old school.
When an NBA player signs a contract in good faith, I'd rather see him fulfill the life of said contract.
But this is 2020. The iPhone 12 is out. I now watch movies on my laptop and a pandemic is raging.
The world is changing. For better. For worse.
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