James Harden agrees to 3-year, $97M deal with Cavaliers

James Harden, the future Hall of Fame guard, has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers for $97 million over the next three seasons, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The new contract also reportedly features a player option and a trade kicker.

Advertisement

Harden previously declined a $42.3 million option to return to the Cavs for the 2026-27 NBA season, seeking instead longer-term security, even if it represents an annual pay cut.

In February, the Cavaliers traded 26-year-old two-time All-Star Darius Garland and a second-round pick in this year’s draft (Henri Veesaar) to the Los Angeles Clippers for Harden, believing the one-time MVP could vault Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and a collection of role-playing wings into more serious championship contention.

It worked, for a spell, as it always does. Until it doesn’t. This is Harden’s fifth team in six seasons.

The Cavaliers compiled a 19-7 record down the stretch of the regular season with Harden in the lineup, boasting an offense that scored at a top-three rate (120.9 points per 100 meaningful possessions, per Cleaning the Glass) whenever Harden was on the court. The 36-year-old is still an elite playmaker almost a decade removed from his MVP campaign.

Advertisement

Of course, Cleveland operated as a bottom-13 defensive outfit when Harden was on the court, too, allowing 116.2 points per 100 non-garbage possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass. He was never known for defense, and he is entering the 18th year of his career.

Harden averaged 20.5 points (on 47/44/84 shooting splits) and 7.7 assists (against 3.2 turnovers) in 33.8 minutes per game for the Cavaliers last season. Those numbers dipped in the playoffs, when he averaged 19.2 points (41/30/83) and 5.5 assists (4.7 turnovers).

And therein lies the issue. Harden ended this past season tied with Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone for the most playoff wins (98) without a championship. Not since he was the Sixth Man of the Year on the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder has Harden reached an NBA Finals.

Yet, he helped the Cavaliers get to the conference finals this past season, as he had the Houston…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/james-harden-agrees-to-3-year-97m-deal-with-cavaliers-170350315.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2026-08-20 17:03:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.