Time to address the elephant in the room, Smooth J's expiring contract. The Thunder and Super GM, Sam Presti, have until October 31 to sign
Smooth J to a contract extension or he's destined to become a restricted free agent on July 1. The implication here is if Harden gets to free agency on July 1, he will receive multiple max offers (4 years, $60mil) which the Thunder will not be able to match. In interviews leading up to this year, Harden has stated that he is willing to "sacrifice" to keep the Thunder's Big Three intact, just like Westbrook did before the beginning of last year and Durant prior to that. What the Thunder have is special. Never in the history of the league has a team been so good and so young at the same time. It would be a shame if J can't see that.
According to our sources close the situation, the major hold up on getting a deal hashed out is not Smooth J himself, but his beard,
Jeremiah. After
all the attention Jeremiah has received over the last 3 years, he has become a full blown diva. Demanding a cut of the profits on any beard related sales (in addition to Smooth J's cut), his own personal assistant, his own seat on the bus and even his own white woman, Jeremiah has become the Elton John of basketball; high demands but not much production when the lights turn on.
For now, we all wait with bated breath to see if Smooth J, Jeremiah and Presti can work a miracle. Smooth J would never leave on his own (too scared of
Poppa Perk), but with the influence of the power hungry, Jeremiah, no one can say for sure how this saga will end.
