In a shocking development just ahead of the NBA trade deadline Thursday, star guard James Harden could be on his way out of Los Angeles.
Harden and the LA Clippers are working through whether both sides can find a deal, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday night. The Cleveland Cavaliers — who play in Los Angeles on Wednesday — are one of the teams talking to the Clippers about a Harden deal, with guard Darius Garland potentially part of an offer.
Harden, who has missed the past two games for personal reasons, according to the team, has helped lead the Clippers back into the playoff picture after a 6-21 start. They are 23-26 and in ninth in the Western Conference.
Harden, 36, has been traded four times in his career, three of which came after trade requests: from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets (2021); Nets to Philadelphia 76ers (2022); and then 76ers to Clippers (2023). Harden is averaging 25.4 points per game this season, his highest since his final full season in Houston in 2020-21. He has played 44 games and is averaging 35.4 minutes.
This time, Harden can veto any trade because he’s under contract for only this season. The second year of the two-year, $81.5 million deal he agreed to in the offseason is a player option, which isn’t fully guaranteed.
How could Harden and the Clippers part ways? What could a potential trade look like? And what does Harden’s potential departure mean for LA’s future? Our NBA insiders answer five questions:
If Harden gets moved, what’s next for the Clippers?
As recently as two weeks ago, Harden was talking about how “blessed” he felt to be able to play in his hometown at this stage of his career. By all accounts, the feeling was mutual with the organization.
Harden has been well-liked in LA and more productive than anyone would’ve expected after how his time in Philadelphia ended. The problem is, he’s 36 and due to make the kind of salary the best player on a contender makes, not that of an aging superstar on a team that has probably missed its championship window.
Moving Harden, and potentially getting a player like the Cavs’ Darius Garland, gives the Clippers something of a future.
Which is saying something considering how bereft of draft picks and promising younger players the Clippers are.
It’s not clear where this would leave Kawhi Leonard, 34, who has helped lead the Clippers back to the playoff chase after their horrible start. — Ramona Shelburne
What was the scene inside Intuit Dome on Monday night?
Harden was nowhere to be found, missing his second consecutive game for what the team called personal reasons. That he had perhaps played his last game for the Clippers, though, was not a secret on the floor.
Players from both teams, the Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers, whispered about the situation before the game and even chatted before tip about the concept of him ending up in Cleveland. With a handful of Clippers players wearing Harden’s signature shoes (which is normal), LA fell down 16-2, looking flat out of the gate.
It was the second night of a back-to-back, and that happens, but Harden’s tenure in LA has been marked by him carrying the team through tough times. It felt as if the team was expressing itself knowing what was taking place. — Brian Windhorst
What does it mean for Harden’s legacy that he’s potentially being traded for what would be the fifth time in his career?
Welcome to modern stardom. Through the 1990s, just two MVPs had played for more than three teams during their careers: Moses Malone (seven, plus two more in the ABA) and Bob McAdoo (seven). Since Shaquille O’Neal played for six teams, bouncing to four in as many seasons at the end of his career, that’s been as much the rule as the exception.
Harden’s former Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Kevin Durant has played for five teams, albeit with only two trades in the mix. And Russell Westbrook, his teammate with the Thunder, Houston Rockets and LA Clippers, is on team number seven. Although it’s easy to pin this to the so-called “player empowerment” era, the reality is also that teams are quicker to move on from aging stars with high salaries than they once were.
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Perk rips Clippers for exploring Harden trade
Kendrick Perkins rips the Clippers for not being able to keep James Harden happy and discusses which team should look to trade for him.
Having Harden come full circle to finish his career with the hometown Clippers was a nice storyline, and certainly a more romantic one than Harden going to the Cavaliers with no particular tie to the organization other than its history of serving as a late-era stop for itinerant former MVPs O’Neal and Derrick Rose.
Still, the difference between Harden (and Westbrook) and Durant is that he belongs to a specific franchise. No matter how many teams Harden ends up playing for, even if he wins an elusive championship elsewhere, he’ll always be remembered as a member of the Houston Rockets. Harden is the franchise leader in 3s, assists and triple-doubles while ranking second behind fellow MVP Hakeem Olajuwon in scoring.
The eight full seasons Harden spent in Houston, resulting in an MVP and two trips to the conference finals, will be his lasting legacy. — Kevin Pelton
What could a Cavs-Clippers deal look like? What should LA be looking for in a deal?
Because of the apron rules, a Harden-Garland swap is the only trade that legally works. (Unless, of course, the Cavaliers want to completely gut their roster to get under the second apron, which is not going to happen.)
Even with taking back less salary in the De’Andre Hunter trade, Cleveland remains $13.8 million over the second apron and cannot aggregate salaries or take back more money in a trade. Harden earns $39,182,693 this season and Garland $39,446,090.
Besides the salary component, two things need to happen for a trade to go through.
The first is that Harden needs to approve of the trade. Although he does not have a true no-trade clause (eight years in the NBA and a minimum four with the team playing for) like LeBron James and Damian Lillard, Harden has veto power on any deal. Harden has a one-year Bird provision because he signed a two-year contract last offseason that contained an option. His $42.3 million salary for next season is partially guaranteed for $13.3 million even if the option is exercised in June. His salary becomes fully guaranteed on July 11.
The second is that Harden would need to modify the 15% trade bonus in his contract. If Harden were traded, he would be eligible for a $2.3 million bonus from the Clippers. The bonus would then be added to his $39.2 million salary. However, because Cleveland is not allowed to take back more salary, the bonus would need to be reduced to $266,397.
As for the Clippers, the oldest roster in the NBA would get a 26-year-old former All-Star with two years left on his contract after this season. — Bobby Marks
What could Harden bring to a contender at 36?
One irony of Harden’s trade request is that he’s playing his best basketball in years.
The 2017-18 NBA MVP is posting his highest scoring average and usage rate since he left Houston half a decade ago, and he’s one of just four players this season — along with Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Cade Cunningham — averaging at least 25 points and eight assists per game.
And while he’s not quite as efficient from the field as he was at his peak, he compensates by drawing a ton of fouls. Among high-usage stars, Harden has a higher true shooting percentage than Cunningham, Jalen Brunson, Jaylen Brown and Devin Booker.
In other words, Harden is still an offensive engine unto himself, with advanced stats that place him in the range of Kevin Durant — another veteran still excelling into his late 30s — in terms of offensive impact.
The Clippers are scoring 120.4 points per 100 possessions with Harden on the court, per databallr, versus just 109.5 without him; that’s the difference between a top-three offense and a bottom-three unit. Team Harden up with another star, and the results are even better: Harden and Kawhi Leonard have a scorching 125.1 offensive rating together.
However, part of Harden’s legacy is uncertainty over whether his statistical renaissance will translate to the postseason. Last season, he scored just seven points in a Game 7 as the Clippers were eliminated; in 2023-24, he scored 23 combined points over the Clippers’ last two losses; and in 2022-23, he scored just nine points in a Game 7 as the 76ers fell.
Harden can still help a contender over the next couple of months, especially because he’s almost always available: He played in 44 of the Clippers’ first 47 games this season before missing the last two. But that contender had better be able to rely on other scorers once it reaches the postseason. — Zach Kram
