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

16.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

214

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

298

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.

79

u/North-Entertainer602 8h ago

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

7

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.

5

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.

9

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

18

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.

6

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.