What can James Harden buy in Houston with his contract money?
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Since joining the Houston Rockets via trade, James Harden raised his profile from off-the-bench role player to superstar leader. As such, Harden has been compensated.
In his five completed seasons in Houston, James Harden has earned more than $76.5 million from the Rockets. In the latest season, which is the first of a four-year, $118 million contract, Harden earned his first $20-million-level salary.
Over the weekend, Harden solidified his status as a top-earner in the league, agreeing to a record-setting extension worth $169,344,000 over four years, starting with the 2019-2020 season.
Between 2017 and 2023, which is the final year of the extension, Harden stands to earn an astronomical $228 million.
Financials aside, the extension makes sure Harden stays a Houstonian, at least nine months out of every year anyways. When news broke of the new contract, Harden alluded the city as his present and future.
"Houston is home for me," he said.
So, with Harden becoming one of the most well-paid Houstonians to date, we checked out things he could buy here with his millions. Some of these things are accessible to the common man, but imagine buying more than one.
Breakfast tacos
Let's start with the most important meal of the day. Houston is a big breakfast taco city, if not, the biggest. Using the top 10 rated Houston breakfast taco spots on Yelp, one taco with egg, cheese, and meat averages out to about $3.50.
Assuming James orders just one taco every morning, he could afford to have tacos for the next 65,142,857 days, or about the next 178,473 years.
In an ideal world, every day for James Harden is "taco Tuesday."
Barbecue
There's no better definitive Texas food staple than BBQ, and James might already have a few cookouts under his belt.
But if he wants to feed himself and his entourage, he might seek the meats of Ray's Real Pit BBQ Shack on Old Spanish Trail, which, for the sake of the density of BBQ joints in Houston, gets the nod due to it's No. 1 rating on Yelp. For a crew of 20 and $157 a pop, James could theoretically have meats, sausage, and sides catered every day for the next 1,452,229 days, or about the next 3,978 years.
Hopefully, the basketball won't slip out of his hands too easily after all those meals. Maybe that's why the Rockets acquired Chris Paul.
Barbershop
If you haven't seen a picture of James Harden yet, you'll know almost immediately upon first sight that he is a man with a lot of facial hair.
Known as "The Beard," Harden will most likely need proper grooming and treatment of his trademark. Houston's dozens of barbershops can provide a weekly trim and conditioning of his beard as well as his dome-topping faux-hawk.
The average price of a haircut and beard trim among the top 10 Houston barbershops on Yelp sits at about $37.
Assuming he sees the barber each week, James can use his 228 million green notes for 6,162,162 sessions, or 118,503 years' worth barbershop trips.
By the way, James Harden's beard has its own Twitter account with 18,000 followers.
Astros tickets
James Harden has made Rockets games a hot ticket in town. What if he wanted to take in a day at Minute Maid Park for an Astros game?
A dugout season ticket for 83 games of Astros baseball costs $6,723, assuming Harden wants the prime seats. With $228 million, Harden can get two regular season tickets for the next 16,956 years.
We feel Harden already has a deep kinship with fellow bearded athlete Dallas Keuchel.
Real estate
Let's get down to serious money business.
Earlier this year, we showed you the 10 most expensive houses sold in Houston in 2016.
The houses combined to sell for at least $68.4 million.
James Harden can conceivably buy all 10 houses, three times with $228 million. That's 30 multi-million-dollar homes in Houston. Can you imagine "MTV Cribs" with Harden? Consider that a marathon.
PHOTOS: Houston's most expensive homes in 2016
What other Houston things would you like to see The Beard go "Scrooge McDuck" on? Send us an email with your suggestion here.
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