The Los Angeles Clippers are buying and selling James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers in change for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
Conjecture of a possible commerce for Harden gained steam simply forward of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, as Yahoo Sports’ Kelly Iko reported late Monday evening the Clippers and Cavs have been engaged in discussions surrounding the veteran All-Star. Now the 2 groups have swapped All-Star guards.
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The 36-year-old Harden is within the second yr of a two-year, $81.5 million deal he signed final June when he declined his player option. Because of the construction of his contract, he might have declined any commerce.
Harden does have a $42.3 million participant possibility for 2026-27, however solely $13 million of it’s assured. Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Harden can have to waive his one-year Bird restriction that capabilities as a no-trade clause so as to facilitate the commerce.
Harden is in his seventeenth NBA season, and the Cavaliers might be his sixth crew since he was drafted third general by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009. He has spent the previous three seasons with the Clippers, averaging 21.1 factors, 8.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per recreation.
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This season, Harden has performed 44 video games and averaged 25.4 factors per recreation, his highest because the 2019-20 season. Despite a robust case for his twelfth All-Star choice this season, he was left off the roster.
In December, Harden entered the NBA’s top 10 all-time scoring checklist and is currently ninth.
What commerce means for Cavaliers
The change of the 2 All-Stars provides a contemporary begin for each gamers and a reset for each groups as they search to enhance their standing of their respective convention playoff races.
Harden joins a Cavaliers crew that entered Tuesday in fifth place within the East at 30-21. The Cavaliers are contenders within the East, however have taken a step again from final season’s 64-18 marketing campaign that produced the most effective file within the convention.
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Various accidents to Garland have performed a job in Cleveland’s wrestle to repeat final season’s success as he missed 25 of Cleveland’s first 51 video games. Even when wholesome, there have been issues in Cleveland that Garland’s talent set overlapped that of All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell within the backcourt.
The addition of a high-scoring playmaking guard in Harden does not precisely alleviate these issues. But the Cavaliers are definitely hoping the addition of Harden will propel them again into the dialog amongst championship contenders from an Eastern Conference that continues to be huge open. Harden and Mitchell will mix to produce one of the potent backcourts in basketball.
What commerce means for Clippers
The Clippers, in the meantime, get a two-time All-Star level guard in Garland who, when wholesome, might present a great complement to All-Star ahead Kawhi Leonard. Garland’s a robust scorer and distributor who averaged 20.6 factors and 6.7 assists final season whereas taking pictures 40.1% from 3 en route to his second profession All-Star choice.
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A toe harm sidelined him throughout Cleveland’s run to the second spherical of the playoffs. It required offseason surgical procedure and lingered into this season, and Garland has since sustained a toe harm on his reverse foot. He missed Cleveland’s earlier 9 video games with the most recent harm prior to Tuesday’s information of the commerce. It’s not clear when he’ll have the ability to make his Clippers debut.
The Clippers received off to a 6-21 begin, however have since recovered to a 23-26 file as of Tuesday to get again into the Western Conference playoff race. They’re hoping Garland might help propel them towards the postseason when he is prepared to return to the court docket.