Feb 06, 2026
3 min read
Six more weeks of winter, another James Harden trade.Could this time be different?
It must have been a gesture of nature's general will that rumors of James Harden's impending departure began to resurface on Groundhog Day.Welcome to the "time loop" in which Harden requests a trade in the spring, with the goal of finding his way (again).The fourth trade in six seasons.This time: to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who received the former MVP and 11-time All-Star from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Darius Garland and a 2026 second-round pick.
A trade package for Harden at age 36, a two-time All-Star under 10 years old and future second-round pick, is a testament to both Harden's seemingly immortal ball skills and Garland's fragility on the court.Say what you will about Harden's stature over the years, but there are a few questions about his availability.Through Monday night, Harden had played 91.5 percent of the Clippers' regular-season games over the past two and a half seasons.Garland shot just 73.5 percent over that same span — and has been sidelined since mid-January with a right thumb injury he was working his way back from offseason surgery on his left thumb.
Harden is still a better player than Garland, and he's also more durable.Given the Cavaliers' current injuries and schedule, this trade was inevitable.After a terrible start to the season, the Cavaliers are now just 2.5 games behind the New York Knicks, the second seed in the Eastern Conference.Harden gives the team a chance to live up to the high expectations the Cavaliers failed to meet in the first half of the season.
"I see an opportunity to win the East in Cleveland; they have a really good team, coaches, everything," Harden told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on Tuesday night.
It's a promotion for a future champion: taking perennial postseason underachievers into long-term postseason underachievers and hoping to be twice as bad.Can work be crazy?Harden will improve Cleveland's floor and ceiling, if only temporarily.He averaged 25.4 points on 42/35/90 shooting this year (since leading the league with Houston) and dished out 8.1 assists per game.He's still an offense in his own right, an all-time expert at sensing defenders' weaknesses and adjusting the weight and timing of his hypnotic crossover stepback pulls in isolation.(According to Synergy Sports, Harden has produced more points per game in isolation than any player this season…he himself is back in 2019-20.) He's still an elite lob.An artist that will make life easier for Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen out of the pick-and-roll — assuming they're both on the team's tight end.And for all his defensive inefficiency, his height and length advantage over Garland should make a difference in the overall defensive scheme.Harden's 87 deflections on the season trail trail only Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell, Allen and Craig Porter Jr.
But the introduction of Harden also brings a specific tension to the order in the attack.There are few stars in NBA history who have been more dominant with the ball than Harden, and even fewer who justify such means.The feel-out process of him playing alongside Mitchell will be similar to the process he went through with Tyrese Maxey, Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul in the past — although this may be the first time Harden's backcourt has decided it's a better, more efficient shooter.
As always, the question that must be asked in the new environment is: Can James Harden settle into a more complementary role?The more instructive question, however, is: How can the offense come together when Harden and Mitchell relieve each other of the burden of production?Mitchell's usage rate is as high as it's ever been as a Cavalier;Harden's usage rate is as high as it has been since leaving the Rockets.These are two offensive engines that have been overloaded this season and they are trying to keep their teams with extremely poor results.Having two elite on-ball creators who can shoot 3s at volume and get into the lane at will is a rare luxury;the fact that Harden and Mitchell have both excelled in the catch-and-shoot 3 over the past five seasons is just icing on the cake.
Cleveland has 31 games to find its latest power forward, and more importantly, to find out what none of Harden's five employers have been able to do with him: how to improve his ability to run in the postseason.Harden is hitting the free throw line at a pace he hasn't done since his first season.But the whistles will diminish in the postseason, and that change has affected his overall success in the best-of-seven series.taken down.As durable as Harden is, there are a lot of pipes that break down during the season when you have a lot of control, like his night control.There are already signs of that this season: His shooting percentage has dropped in his last 19 games with the Clippers, as the team righted the ship and Kawhi Leonard returned to demigod form.He may have agreed to part ways with the NBA's hottest team, which has won more games than any team in the league since mid-December.Circumstances, desires and goals can change instantly.
After the recent change of fortunes, hasn't Harden found a way to beat Los Angeles, which is 23-26 and ranked 9th in the West?Does he not see a way forward for the long-term financial support of the Clippers organization?Or, as he said, was it for a chance to win in a weak Eastern Conference?“In life, even in basketball, when things go wrong, there are ways to end them without destroying the relationship.”Harden, who was kicked out of Philadelphia after calling team president Daryl Morey a liar, told Shelburne:“Okay, maybe we don’t see a future together, or whatever the case may be, we just passed each other up.
"[I] didn't want to feel like I was going to have cuts in the future," Harden continued."I wanted them to be able to rebuild and get the money to run."
Harden is clearly more thoughtful as he gets older, more attuned to timelines and the benefits of reciprocity.His past self may have been focused solely on his own destiny, rather than the people and systems that got him where he wanted to be."Originally, when I was going through everything I've been through, you know, with Houston, Philadelphia was my first choice," Harden said in his induction press conference after being traded from the Nets to the Sixers. "It just didn't happen. Details: I really don't want to be involved in the Brooklyn situation."
At the very least, Harden's understanding of the goals and needs of all parties involved is another wrinkle in his all-too-familiar business score.The growth is there, even if it's clear Harden hasn't quite moved past the old patterns.
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Monday, predicting a historically long winter.Over the past 20 years, Phil has made just 35 percent of his annual attempts, which is lower than Harden's career 3-point percentage.poorA thousand people freeze their asses and wait for the Rat Puja.There is something to be said about tradition and customs.Does Earth's accuracy matter in predicting seasonal climate systems?Of course not.But we pay attention to Phil every year.We respect that which has stood the test of time.
It's time to think about your legacy.There's hope and fear at the thought of Stephen Curry's perfect farewell or LeBron James' potentially final homecoming.At his current pace, Michael Jordan will pass Kevin Durant for fifth place on the all-time scoring list sometime this season — cementing his place in NBA history as the most prolific scorer the game has ever known.These are hopes for excellence and consistency over the years.Along those lines, it's only right that we from Cleveland recognize and celebrate Harden at the time of the trade, one of the most consistent events of this tumultuous decade. Houston to Brooklyn, Brooklyn to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to L.A., L.A.From Cleveland - but Harden's wandering in the faith of the basketball spirit that remained so.It would be almost comforting if he didn't go around all the time.
