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Monday July 10, 2017

JAMES HARDEN signed a four-year, “supermax” exten-sion Saturday, a whopper of a deal that guarantees Harden about US$228 million over the next six seasons and makes it the richest contract in league history.

The extension alone tacks another US$170 million or so — depending on how the salary cap escalates — on to a contract that still had two more years and nearly US$60 million remain-ing. It’s a mammoth deal befi t-ting one of the league’s brightest stars, which is exactly what the Beard has become in fi ve seasons with the Rockets.

“Since he arrived in Houston, James has exhibited the incred-ible work ethic, desire to win, and passion to be the best that has made him one of the most unique and talented superstars in the history of the game,” Rockets owner Leslie Alexan-der said in a statement issued by the team.

“Additionally, the commit-ment he has shown to our organization, the city of Hous-ton, and Rockets fans all over the world makes him a perfect leader in our pursuit of another championship.”

The deal keeps Harden under contract through the 2022-23 season, a lifetime in the modern NBA fi nancial landscape in which so many superstars take short-term deals to maximize their earning potential.

While anything can happen, this is about as much security as a player can get.

Harden is coming off of his

A SPANISH court said Friday it has exchanged a 21-month prison sentence handed to soccer megastar Lionel Messi for tax fraud in July 2016 for a quarter of 1 million euro (US$285,000) fi ne.

The Barcelona player and his father were found guilty by a Catalan court last year of three counts of tax fraud to the tune of 4.1 million euros over income earned from image rights.

The father also had his 15-month sentence exchanged for a fi ne of 180,000 euros, the court said.

Neither Messi nor his father would have served time in jail following the original ruling as defendants without a previous conviction are permitted to serve any sentence of under two years on probation.

Messi, who recently extended his contract with the Catalan club, is “the best paid player in the world,” Barca’s President Josep Maria Bartomeu said Friday.

The club announced last week that Messi had agreed to extend his contract until 2021, in a deal that will keep the fi ve-time winner of the Ballon D’Or at the club until he is 34.

(SD-Agencies)

Messi prison sentence lifted for fi ne

WINS for Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on Saturday mean the “big four” are all into the second week of Wimbledon, as the men’s draw continues to build nicely.

Both men had their fi rst-round matches cut short by retirements, but have continued to make light work of their oppo-nents and served up straight-set victories once again in seeing off Mischa Zverev and Ernests Gulbis respectively.

It proved to be a short day’s work for Sam Querrey and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while Gael Monfi ls went out in style.

Zverev failed to capitalize on a strong fi rst-set performance as he lost to Federer in straight sets on Center Court.

The German forced the seven-time champion to a tie-break in the opener, but was ultimately beaten 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 49 minutes.

Victory for Federer sets up a fourth-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov, who was two sets up on Dudi Sela when the Israeli — beaten 6-1 in both — retired hurt.

Federer discussed the infl u-ence of his wife Mirka on his career afterwards, and said he

Federer, Djokovic sail into 2nd week

would call it quits if she ever decided she had enough.

He said: “Without her I couldn’t do it. If she said I don’t want to travel no more, I’ll say, okay, my career is over. It’s as simple as that.”

“It’s important to get through

the fi rst week with a good feeling, and I think I got that.”

Djokovic joined the growing list of players criticizing the playing surface at Wimbledon this year following his 6-4 6-1 7-6 (7-2) victory over Gulbis.

The Serbian complained that

areas of Center Court were too soft and that it was affecting the bounce of the ball.

“I haven’t had that kind of experience before in Wimbledon, to be honest,” he said. “I mean, the courts are always perfect here. (SD-Agencies)

Harden signs richest NBA deal ever

fi nest season. Moving to point guard for new coach Mike D’Antoni, Harden averaged 29.1 points, an NBA-leading 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds and fi nished second in the MVP race to former Oklahoma City team-mate Russell Westbrook.

“Houston is home for me,” Harden said. “Mr. Alexander has shown he is fully committed to winning and my teammates and I are going to keep putting in the work to get better and compete for the title.”

Most importantly for the Rockets in the immediate future is that the extension will not affect Houston’s aggres-sive pursuit of free agents this summer as the Rockets try to make a run at the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets fi nished third in the Western Confer-ence regular season last year

but know they have plenty of ground to make up if they hope to truly challenge the defending champions.

Harden’s do-it-all season helped the Rockets bounce back from a massively disappointing 2015-16 season that collapsed under the weight of chemistry issues with the All-Star guard and big man Dwight Howard.

With Howard gone, the Rock-ets put Harden at the center of everything they do on offense, and it paid off in a major way.

Houston went 55-27 in the regular season and beat West-brook and the Thunder in the fi rst round of the Western Con-ference semifi nals.

Harden seemed to run out of gas a bit in their semifi nals loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and GM Daryl Morey has worked quickly to get him some help this summer.

Morey traded for All-Star point guard Chris Paul, a bold move that gives the Rockets as talented a backcourt as any team in the league. Morey also signed rugged forward P.J. Tucker to boost the defense and brought Nene back as well.

And he’s not done yet.This mechanics for this exten-

sion are new to the NBA in the latest version of the collective bargaining agreement.

Harden was named fi rst team All-NBA, making him eligible for a lucrative, four-year extension that also sends a message to the rest of the league that the Rock-ets are committed to stability as they try to challenge the War-riors in the West. (SD-Agencies)

James Harden

PAULINHO has called on Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao to be fl exible as he chases a move to Barcelona, claiming he would accept a pay cut to push through a transfer.

The Brazil midfi elder revealed Barca had made a bid for him last month, reportedly worth 20 million euros, but the Chinese Super League (CSL) champion has rejected the offer and is determined to keep hold of the player, whose contact includes a 40-million-euro (US$ 45.6 mil-lion) release clause.

With Barca turning to the former Tottenham player as its attempts to sign Marco Verratti from Paris Saint-Germain hit the buffers, Paulinho hopes that his current employers will have a change of heart.

He told Mundo Deportivo: “I was a little surprised that Guangzhou had not responded to Barca yet and it came out in the press here that they had rejected the offer.

“I could not talk to my presi-dent yet because we travel to Beijing to play, but I hope that if Barca comes, Guangzhou will be fl exible and the signing can be confi rmed.”

Though his CSL deal may be beyond the pay structures at Camp Nou, Paulinho says the dream of competing for Cham-pions League glory means more to him than money.

He explained: “In 2011, when I was in Corinthians, I received an offer from Russia that offered me to win 10 times more than in Brazil and I answered: ‘What I can do with fi ve, I can do with two.’

“Money for me never came fi rst. A player can make money at any team he goes to. The important thing for me is to be happy with the decision that I am making.

“China is now a fi nancial giant, but for me the money was not a priority, so if Barca offers me a proposal which is less than in Guangzhou, for me it is not a problem because I value the option of being able to play in a great European league, sur-rounded by great players.

“The dream of being able to win the Champions League is something that you have with Barca, and with the team that is there, I can achieve it.”

(SD-Agencies)

Paulinho wants Guangzhou to be ‘fl exible’

Lionel Messi

Paulinho

Switzerland’s Roger Federer in action during his match against Germany’s Mischa Zverev at Wimbledon on Saturday.SD-Agencies