James Harden Is Now A Cavalier
Well, after hours of speculation with the trade deadline looming, your Cleveland Cavaliers are now in the James Harden business. The 11-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer will now accompany Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt in Cleveland, replacing Darius Garland. Oddly enough, Garland will simply be switching locker rooms at Intuit Dome to don the red, white, and blue of the LA Clippers instead of wine and gold as the Cavs visit LA. Shams Charania first reported the move in the middle of the night on Monday, and finally consummated the day before the Cavs were set to play the Clippers in the third game of their West Coast road trip on Wednesday. It is fair to say this is one of the more seismic trades in recent Cavs history, especially in the post-LeBron era, as general manager Koby Altman finally deciding to break up the Core 4.
On the surface, you are getting one of the best scoring guards in NBA history, but at 36. A player for whom the word "heliocentric" would have a picture of James Harden next to it in the dictionary. If you scan his basketball reference page, you can understand why, at this moment, Cleveland would take their chances with the more durable and still effective Harden, compared to Darius Garland, whose injury history has been a lingering cloud over the franchise in recent years. Yet, as I'm writing, the circumstances of this trade were rife with the same song and dance that ended his tenures with his last 4 teams. Whether from lack of commitment from his previous employers or seeing the writing on the wall, he's dipped out unceremoniously to his next NBA team, where he can leech off for more money and better postseason opportunities. That's because he's a great basketball player, and despite burning bridges, the next team is willing to build another one, with thoughts of a championship clouding their minds.
This isn't to say I don't get that. The Cavs have declared to the world they want to win The Finals or, at the very least, make a deep playoff run. As a fan, you deep down want that from the team you root for when it's all said and done. There is some honest rationale in placing your bets on Harden rather than hoping and praying Garland's feet will be 100% come playoff time. I can understand the predicament if you are Koby Altman and are motivated to go in that direction. It is also fair to ask that I hope that whatever infrastructure this roster will be once the trade deadline passes is strong enough around him. He'll obviously have his moments and games that remind you of why he's one of the best players in the world, yet his resume also reeks of playoff stinkers and no-shows when his team has needed him most. So, yes, while the move on paper makes sense for the Cavaliers to make them more serious title contenders in the very near future, don't be surprised if the Cavs faithful are a bit weary of a tiger who hasn't shown the ability to change his stripes over the course of his career, especially come playoff time.