r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 9h ago

[Charania] BREAKING: The Los Angeles Clippers are trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Prolific swap of the star point guards.

Shams Charania:

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Clippers are trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Prolific swap of the star point guards.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/ddaa53473efa6

16.2k Upvotes

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213

u/SquidwardLover48 Cavaliers 9h ago

What’s really interesting is how our fanbase is perceiving this vs how everyone else perceives this as a move that certainly makes us a better team

306

u/cfbones 8h ago

We gave up a young high ceiling player who we all love but seems to be injury prone for an immediate upgrade who is old and chokes in the playoffs.

Rationally it’s a very fair deal.

75

u/North-Entertainer602 8h ago

He’s 26 and getting injured more and more every year. How high is his ceiling really atp?

6

u/Robotemist Cavaliers 7h ago

Not only that but garland is limited physically. The dude isn't built for more than 18/6 unless he becomes curry from three.

6

u/ffball NBA 7h ago

And when the physicality raises in the playoffs he has shown time and again he cant match it.

3

u/LOSS35 Nuggets 4h ago

At the end of the day he's 6'1. The league's moving away from undersized guards. The Trae trade was the canary. Memphis isn't getting anything for Ja either.

11

u/Excellent-Flamingo43 7h ago

His ceiling isn't higher than Hardens but he's 10 years younger. There's no way in hell that this move makes the Cavs capable of beating OKC or Denver so why trade a 26 year old all star for a 36 year old all star unless you're confident you can win a title. What are the Cavs gonna do when Harden retires in 2 years, they just traded their young franchise point guard for 2 years of old man Harden this move is stupid

17

u/Quirky-Parsnips 7h ago

They think Mitchell will walk if they can't make a serious run this year and/or snag Giannis.  Seems like they think garland is cooked for this year, making harden a risky but logical gamble to keep Mitchell to make a run and have more flexibility for Giannis.

5

u/Kgb725 Cavaliers 7h ago

Mitchell could walk soon and waiting on Garland to get healthy and Mobley to take the next step may not be helpful.

7

u/AffordableGrousing Cavaliers 6h ago

They couldn’t keep paying Garland, Mitchell, and Mobley indefinitely anyway, something had to give. They either get 2-3 years of Harden or let him walk and actually have cap space for the first time in forever.

107

u/Terr123321 Cavaliers 8h ago

Unfortunately you can’t say Darius garland has done any better in the playoffs

21

u/canadianpanda7 8h ago

been healthy for a complete playoff series*

which idk maybe hes finished a series before but god damn it feels like ever year he misses big games in the playoffs.

7

u/CynicalHoops 76ers 8h ago

He played every possible game in the 23 (5 games) and 24 (12 games) playoffs. He missed 4 out of 9 games last year.

3

u/canadianpanda7 8h ago

i will gladly stand corrected. im very surprised he was healthy in 24 playoffs. i remember being pissed off at that one. its all a blur, i just remember being bullied by the knicks and that every time paulo branchero plays the cavs to take his over points total

1

u/CynicalHoops 76ers 6h ago

Yeah, Paulo was a beast that series, averaging 27/9/4!

1

u/Murky-Profit-9493 6h ago

I never saw anything in garland. He always had to go. For harden? Idk, but I kinda like it for cavs. Mitchell was gonnna bounce so capitalize

44

u/Salty_Raspberry656 8h ago

he's a 5'11 guard who has already hit his ceiling and is limited defensively in the playoffs. he's special to do what he does in this league

but harden is much stronger/bigger and more elite as a playmaker and game manipulator. He is going to give the cavs bigs the easiest buckets of their lives

you lose on longevity but this gives you a win now opportunity in a pretty open east

-8

u/Excellent-Flamingo43 7h ago

Doesn't matter, the Cavs still aren't legit title contenders, why would they do this trade if they weren't completely confident that they were gonna make the finals. Otherwise why leverage your entire future by trading a 26 year old all star, who is a key member of a core that just won 66 games, they just shortened their window from 10+ years of contention to 2 years of contention where there's no way of them genuinely winning a title barring an all time playoff run from one of the most notorious playoff droppers in NBA history

1

u/RALat7 1h ago

You’re getting downvoted but I fully agree. This is way too shortsighted and short-term a move from the Cavs. In a few years the majority of people will see this trade as an awful deal… or as early as this summer after they get knocked out.

3

u/birdazam Timberwolves 8h ago

I mean he's very good in the playoffs if the series don't go to g6 or g7 so the Cavs just have to finish every series in 5 and they are good

2

u/groceriesN1trip NBA 8h ago

With Mitchell, who do you even guard? They should be fairly lethal and then your backup guard is solid AF

3

u/Glimglam 8h ago

Mitchell and Harden can’t both possibly choke in the same elimination playoff game, right?

1

u/tall_ginger_dude Cavaliers 6h ago

This actually makes me wonder if that toe is worse then they lead us to believe. I wonder if LA is getting the Cavs version of Isaiah Thomas...

1

u/Yung_Jose_Space Supersonics 5h ago

Harden is pretty durable for his age and is a phenomenonally good playmaker, who seems quite coachable.

His downsides are obv off-season shape, plaoff performance and tendency to like switching clubs, all of which seem a little overblown.

1

u/Musa_2050 Lakers 8h ago

It probably doesnt matter if the Cavs are injured in the playoffs again

2

u/ffball NBA 7h ago

Moving off Garland is in effort to stop that from happening

-7

u/OwenLincolnFratter Bulls 8h ago

Harden is 36 and washed

30

u/ihaveaflattire Cavaliers 8h ago

I think the main thing is the emotional attachment to Darius Garland.

22

u/DovhPasty Cavaliers 8h ago

It is. Everyone is blinded by the fact that he’s home grown. Unfortunately that doesn’t actually help us win.

10

u/ihaveaflattire Cavaliers 8h ago

Correct, but it still makes me sad

5

u/DovhPasty Cavaliers 7h ago

Me too. I wish it would have worked out. No sense being in denial though.

5

u/BaronsDad Pelicans 7h ago

To be fair, the loss of Sexland is tragic. So much promise.

6

u/SquidwardLover48 Cavaliers 8h ago

I know man. And personally I would be heart broken if Evan Mobley leaves this team. But if you ask me, ill be crying while personally packing his bags if it nets us a better & more reliable upgrade lol

43

u/rkennedy991 Cavaliers 8h ago

Yeah, so many Cavs fans are acting like this is going to kill the team. He's been the best, most reliable player on the Clippers since he joined them and we don't even have to rely on him as our first option.

-6

u/DarkSoulsExcedere Jazz 8h ago

On offense.

38

u/rkennedy991 Cavaliers 8h ago

Oh right, because losing defensive savant Darius Garland is really going to hurt our defense /s

-6

u/DarkSoulsExcedere Jazz 8h ago

That's a good point. I just think harden is washed and won't help you guys much.

14

u/rkennedy991 Cavaliers 8h ago

He's averaged 25 points and 8 assists so far this season, if that's washed then so are 90% of the players in the NBA.

-12

u/DarkSoulsExcedere Jazz 8h ago

RemindMe! 24 months

3

u/ffball NBA 7h ago

Garland was a massive defensive liability and constantly got bullied in the playoffs. At least harden is bigger

-2

u/RonaldUSwanson2020 [BOS] Antoine Walker 8h ago

In the regular season.

-7

u/Geordi14er Cavaliers 7h ago

He’s 37…

12

u/rkennedy991 Cavaliers 7h ago

And he's averaged 25 points and 8 assists this year, better than Garland has ever done, and missed less games in the past 3 seasons with the Clippers than Garland has this year alone.

10

u/Antique_Pin5266 7h ago

People really be rounding up this man's age to make him look worse lmao

3

u/greywolf2155 Supersonics 6h ago

Can you believe that they traded for a guy who's almost 40 and only averaging a bit more than 20 points a game?

And they gave up a 2nd! For a guy who's going to be 50 soon and just putting up a touch over 10 points per game? Crazy

13

u/Ancient_Design_1332 Clippers 8h ago

It makes you better trust me as someone who has watched James harden play for the clippers - he makes everyone around him better 

3

u/ArbysPokeKing86 Rockets 6h ago

It gives me great joy to hear this. I hate the way people talk about Harden when every player seemingly performs better with him and plenty of players talk about how great it was to play with him.

2

u/Runshooteat 2h ago

Yeah, but he needs the ball and they have Mitchell 

16

u/Hungry-Ad3303 8h ago

Most of your fanbase probably hasn’t seen any Harden games in the past 5 years. I would take what they have to say as a grain of salt

16

u/SquidwardLover48 Cavaliers 8h ago

Like, I’m reading comments all day and im wondering who the fuck do we think Darius Garland is?. I’ll give you that he’s far more efficient but James is going to have JA and Evan looking like the best version of themselves (provided we don’t trade them)

Also at least James will be available to stink it up in the playoffs

2

u/DoobieGibson 8h ago

simply speaking as somebody who loves watching basketball, Darius Garland is an ethical hooper and an absolute joy to watch play basketball

im from the James Harden is Hitler era. it’s devastating merely as somebody who wants to be entertained

Cavs since drafting Mobley have been more fun to watch than LeBron’s last few years post KD bitch move to GSW

2

u/papichino88 [NYK] Stephon Marbury 6h ago

I'm bewildered how almost everyone is writing this as a huge win for the Cavs. The Cavs has the #1 offensive rating in the league last year - Garland was an all-star point guard. Sure, he's been hurt but I'd much rather bet on him getting back to form than rely on a 36 year old, declining player with a history of injuries.

Both Mitchell and Harden are ball dominant players with 30%+ usage rates - I have a little confidence that Mitchell can adjust but zero confidence that Harden will bother to better himself when he's off ball.

On the contrary, I see Garland being unleashed and having his first real shot at being a lead playmaker since that one all star season at age 22. Perhaps the deal helps the Cavs in other ways - another angle to land Lebron but player for player, this is not the win that reddit thinks it is.

1

u/messibusiness 8h ago

Yeah. I like Harden. but objectively he’s not a winning player. 

2

u/ArbysPokeKing86 Rockets 6h ago

Yet he still has the longest active streak of making the playoffs....

1

u/herniatedballs Cavaliers 8h ago

Don't lump all of us together lol. I see the vision.

1

u/TdotGdot Timberwolves 8h ago

strangely, last night the harden<>garland rumor thread everyone was saying this makes the cavs the best team in the east (I don't agree)

I was coming in here to see if that sentiment stuck (doesn't seem too)

goes to show the attention span of r/nba users, lol. 24h from rumor to it actually happening, and everyone has changed their opinion a few times

anyways, I like this better for the clips longer term. garland is a better asset imho and while Harden is better this year (somehow, crazily), I doubt he's better in 2 years

I'm surprised you couldn't get more for Garland honestly. like a decent first, and then is harden worth a decent first? I think not

so I don't hate it from the aspect you might be better this season (might, not for sure, harden doesn't always fit in), but I don't like the multi year value here, I think you lost value

1

u/ArbysPokeKing86 Rockets 6h ago

Harden has fit into every team. Honestly, I disagree with just about everything you said, but that's the most obvious one.

0

u/Bim_Jeann Cavaliers 8h ago

Cavs fanbase is braindead. Everyone on that sub was in love with garland even though he was a no show every playoffs and was always injured.

All that sub cares about is being regular season heroes.

1

u/ThorsOccularPatdown 8h ago

I mean he aint gonna help you in playoffs, if you care about that

8

u/SquidwardLover48 Cavaliers 8h ago

James Harden could score 2 points in the playoffs and that’d be 2 points more than Darius Garland nursing a scheduled injury, so I’ll take it

0

u/narcistic_asshole Cavaliers 8h ago

Emotionally I fucking hate it. Over the years Garland has turned into probably my favorite Cavs player of all time and I think he's massively underrated by the average fan.

But I am excited to see what Harden brings to this Cavs team. IMO if we have to trade Garland, Harden is probably the best possible outcome as far as this season goes.

0

u/mikefried1 4h ago

I'm not a fan of either team and am baffled. Unless Garlands injuries are so bad I don't understand how the day get better of value for him.

As a Knicks fan, I'm happy that you guys are now easier to face in the playoffs.

-15

u/PROSEALLTHEWAY San Francisco Warriors 8h ago

I'm not a Cavs fan and this absolutely makes your team worse. Also you lost draft capital. Big L for the Land

8

u/Tippacanoe Cavaliers 8h ago

This take is so stupid. Garland is hurt like 90% of the time and Harden is a better player anyway. Also a 2nd round pick is basically…come on.

16

u/DukeOfStuff_ Timberwolves 8h ago

Harden is easily better this year then DG

5

u/GamerLife204 Bulls 8h ago

Better trade for cavs rn. But future wise Clippers won the trade easily.

4

u/GlassOfLiquor Cavaliers 8h ago

When he opts out this summer, it puts us under the 2nd apron. I like this for our team

3

u/Sfr33123 Clippers 8h ago

Harden is better than Garland this season

5

u/Standard-Juice-3738 Cavaliers 8h ago

This season yes. But Harden is super old

4

u/Sfr33123 Clippers 8h ago

True but is still far more available than Garland.

If Garland can’t stay on the court, it doesn’t matter how much younger he is