The Beard Goes to The Land: James Harden Shipped to Cavaliers
The NBA trade deadline isn’t until Thursday, but the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t waiting for their moment. The team, which many fans thought had a roster strong enough to compete for a title last year, made the biggest trade of the season so far, sending former All-Star guard Darius Garland and a draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for former NBA MVP James Harden, according to an ESPN report on Tuesday evening.
Harden is 36 and playing in his 17th NBA season, but so far this year, he’s been both healthy and productive. He’s shot almost 42% from the field, averaging 24.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 8.1 assists over 35.4 minutes per night in 44 games this season.
The 30-21 Cavs hope to strengthen their position in the East in hopes of a post-All-Star break run. They’re currently sixth in the Eastern Conference. Since seven teams in each NBA conference make the playoffs, that puts the Cavs near the edge of the bubble in a season they entered with high expectations. Last season, they made the playoffs as the East’s number one seed but fell in the second round to the eventual Eastern Conference champion, the Indiana Pacers, who currently sit dead last in the East standings.
The Clippers are currently ninth in the West, which doesn’t exactly put them out of the playoff chase, but most suggest they were looking to shed Harden’s expensive contract and look to the future. Harden, currently the NBA’s ninth all-time scorer, is in the back half of a two-year, $81.5 million deal.
Cleveland is making no secret of its ambitions for this year: on Tuesday night, its website prominently featured the headline: “Strengthening the Depth at the Trade Deadline”, a reference to a deal it had already done earlier this week to bring in guards Dennis Schroeder, Keon Ellis, and Emmanuel Miller. The team hadn’t updated its roster on the site to include Harden as of Tuesday night.
Harden and Garland won’t have to wait long to join their new teams: the Cavs were on the West Coast on Tuesday for a game against the Clippers when news of the trade broke.
