Smith: Money well spent — but only if it brings a championship

of increased TV revenue in the super-team NBA and an accepted fact of the new collective bargaining agreement.

Of course, the Rockets were just doing what any other self-respecting franchise would do by locking up Harden, 27, through 2023.

This is the age of Team USA superpowers and Decisions, after all. If you don’t have a reliable superstar, you’re DOA. If you do, you do absolutely everything within your power to keep them (just ask Utah) and then try to surround them with as many complementary stars as humanly possible.

Memphis’ Mike Conley received a five-year, $153 million contract last summer. He’s a sharp, underrated point guard. He’s also never made an All-NBA team, the Grizzlies are in a semi-rebuild a year later and Utah will probably win an NBA title before Memphis.

Always a catch

This is the NBA we live in. Harden could make an unthinkable $47 million in his final year under contract and buy everything you, I and everyone you know owns for several generations, just for being a great basketball player. So it goes.

But thus far, there’s always been a catch with Harden and there’s a question mark attached to the Rockets’ constant up-front investment in an athlete who confuses us at critical times.

Harden is unquestionably one of the NBA’s elite scorers. He did almost everything last season — point(s) guard, team leader, defender in the low post — and should have been the league’s regularseason MVP.

But Harden is not an instant franchise-changer like James. He’s also not on the same level as Michael Jordan, Bryant or Durant.

Harden is a clear 1 — who needs a 2.

And for all the wonder in his game last season — smoothly switching positions, sharper passing, rivaling Russell Westbrook nightly — there are these lingering facts.

Eight years into his pro career, Harden isn’t a dominant two-way player (and probably never will be).

His reliance on free throws for points — a career-high 10.9 attempts in 2016-17 — can limit his attack in the playoffs. He’s been worn down and off target at the end of the last three seasons. The Rockets have twice placed stars (Dwight Howard, Paul) around Harden to maximize his strengths and mask his deficiencies.

“People saw that the wear and tear, both mentally and physically, on James was just too great to really expect him to get us all the way to the trophy,” general manager Daryl Morey said last week, while discussing the virtues of having two united superstars who can recruit for the same team.

Every contemporary contender surrounds its premier player with stars. See: Miami, Cleveland and Golden State. Look at Oklahoma City adding Paul George to Westbrook’s one-man MVP show the summer after Durant left. Praise Kawhi Leonard’s two-way versatility in San Antonio, but also know he joined a legendary coach and system loaded with banners, and the small-market Spurs just had to have LaMarcus Aldridge.

Face of the franchise

Harden was already the face of the Rockets’ franchise. That was cemented the moment a sulking Superman quietly flew away last summer and Harden turned the mirror on himself after his first major extension. Harden was already the secondbiggest sports name in Houston, only topped by J.J. Watt.

The Rockets had placed their future in Harden’s hands, tying everyone from Mike D’Antoni, Eric Gordon and Paul to their belief in The Beard, while cutting ties with Kevin McHale and Howard when it was clear No. 13 had the final say.

But this also hasn’t changed: Harden hasn’t been to the Finals as a Rocket and really hasn’t come close.

Ultimately, the playoffs have been a disappointment during Harden’s reign.

Annually, we’ve been reminded the former sixth man who’s become so big in Houston has a lot of growing up to do.

The biggest contract extension in NBA history doesn’t guarantee Alexander the third trophy he’s been chasing since 1995.

But Harden is good enough to win a ring. Anything less than that, and the Rockets will have giftwrapped $228 million to the wrong superstar.