James Harden is reportedly seeking a trade away from the Clippers just hours after sitting out of tonight’s game against the 76ers due to personal reasons.
According to Shams Charania, ESPN’s NBA insider, Harden and his representation are working with the front office to potentially find a deal for him before Thursday’s trade deadline.
Charania posted this information on X during halftime of tonight’s fixture. He subsequently appeared on SportsCenter and elaborated on the breaking news.
“The LA Clippers and 11-time all-star James Harden are working through whether they can find a trade for Harden out of LA by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.”
“And my understanding is that both of these sides have been aligned in these conversations, and it’s been made possible because he has a mutual option in his contract for next season. It’s a $40 million partial guarantee.”
“And that has allowed both of these sides over the last few days to have conversations about whether he has a long-term future potentially in LA and whether that could be possible.”
“So now both sides are discussing whether there is a mutually beneficial option. Is there a beneficial thing for James Harden to land with a team that he wants to go compete for a championship?”
“This is a Clippers team that right now is in the play-in tournament race. Can I land with a team that can go to a championship? And the Clippers are saying, can we find a player, potentially a younger player, that fits them better long term?”
“One of the teams that has jumped out as among the most interested teams for Harden right now: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell, obviously, championship expectations right now with the Clippers.”
“They’re one of the most interested teams in him, from my understanding. And James Harden has the power in all this. He has a no-trade clause,” Charania concluded.
This information is shocking to the NBA world, as the Clippers were recovering from an abysmal start to the season but had arguably been the best team in the league over the last six weeks. They have won 17 of their last 21 games before tonight.
Harden has averaged 25.4 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds so far this season while shooting 41.9% from the field and 34.7% from beyond the arc.
The Clippers’ guard had repeatedly been urged by former players to leave the franchise when they had the abysmal start to the season, but Harden willingly stuck with the team until now.
According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated and Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports, the Cavaliers have already been in advanced talks with the Clippers’ front office in a potential deal for Harden, centered around a trade package including Darius Garland heading to Los Angeles.
This information comes shortly after Harden and Kawhi Leonard were both snubbed from the All-Star team this season, despite leading the Clippers back into a competitive conversation instead of a bottom-dwelling team.
Kawhi Leonard is arguably having the best season of his career, especially in terms of scoring production. And yet somehow, either Harden or the front office believes that a facilitator like Harden may not be the best fit beside Leonard anymore.
We do not know who initiated this move, but both sides seem to be aligned. It is still not clear whether it was Harden who asked for the trade or if the front office is the one who wants to convince him to get traded, as he can veto any move due to his no-trade clause.
It will be interesting to see if Harden ends up leaving the Clippers before the trade deadline.
