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James Harden is arguably the most divisive member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. For all his talent, there is a track record of a player who loses patience quickly with his team. After acquiring him for fan favorite Darius Garland, Cleveland chose to buy into the full Harden experience, with everything that comes with it.
Cleveland and Harden agreed to a three-year, $97 million deal this offseason. It felt like it had been done for a while, but Harden, to his credit, waited to sign until the Cavaliers completed their big offseason swing: acquiring Peyton Watson in a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets.
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Harden is content when his team is stable, in a state he considers contention-ready, while also having a good contract. Theoretically, he has all of those things now. Cleveland knew the risks that come with him lately and took that swing at last year’s trade deadline anyway. Now, as the Cavaliers and Harden enter their second season together, the question is what the partnership looks like with a full runway.
There wasn’t much time last season for Harden to learn the offense and build rapport with his teammates. Across the regular season and playoffs, he suited up for 44 games. He averaged 20.5 points, 8 assists and 4.8 rebounds in the regular season, and in the playoffs those numbers dipped to roughly 19/5/5.
For all the negativity directed at Harden in the series against the New York Knicks, there is a legitimate case that he was, at worst, the second-best Cavalier of the postseason. His performances in Games 4 and 5 against the Detroit Pistons and Games 2 and 5 against the Toronto Raptors get lost in the conversation, which fixates instead on Jalen Brunson hunting him on defense.
The extension carries Cleveland to Harden’s 39th birthday, and contracts like that rarely age well. But Cleveland has been chasing a championship for the past few years, and for a team in a win-now window, the back end of the deal is a problem for later.
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The focus for 2026-27 is whether Cleveland can best use Harden as the offense’s de facto operator. On paper, he has thrived beside other ball-dominant guards,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cavs-season-preview-james-harden-140000172.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-05 14:00:00
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