{"id":175840,"date":"2026-02-03T21:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=175840"},"modified":"2026-02-03T21:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:14:08","slug":"clippers-and-cavaliers-trade-james-harden-and-darius-garland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/03\/clippers-and-cavaliers-trade-james-harden-and-darius-garland\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers Trade Darius Garland For Clippers’ James Harden\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The LA Clippers<\/a> and Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> have completed a trade centered on point guards James Harden<\/a> and Darius Garland.<\/a> The Clippers acquire Garland, a two-time NBA All-Star. The Cavaliers land the 2018 MVP and 2025 All-NBA selection in Harden. The Clippers will also receive Cleveland\u2019s 2026 second-round pick.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers Trade Darius Garland For Clippers’ James Harden\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Harden Heads To Cleveland<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Jan 2, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley (4) congratulates guard Donovan Mitchell (45) and guard Darius Garland (10) after the Cavaliers defeated the Denver Nuggets at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harden missed the Clippers\u2019 last two games for personal reasons. Reports<\/a> of a possible trade surfaced shortly after. Cleveland creates a dynamic backcourt by pairing Harden with superstar Donovan Mitchell<\/a>. Harden held veto power over any deal. He also holds a partially guaranteed player option this offseason. This trade places him with a team better positioned to challenge for a championship. It also strengthens his path toward a new contract, which is the main reason why he pushed for a move out of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Cleveland adds a bigger guard in Harden, a betterfit defensively. He ranks among the league\u2019s best isolation scorers. He also serves as a high-level playmaker who raises a team\u2019s offensive floor. Harden, an 11-time All-Star and three-time scoring champion, averages 25.4 points and 8.1 assists through 44 games this season. The 36-year-old shoots 41.9 percent from the floor and 34.7 percent from beyond the arc. He turns 37 in August.<\/p>\n

Cleveland has already reshaped its roster in recent days. The team sent De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a> to Sacramento. It also sent draft picks to Chicago. In return, the Cavaliers acquired Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a>, Keon Ellis,<\/a> and two-way forward Emanuel Miller.<\/a><\/p>\n

Clippers Land A Younger Core Piece<\/h3>\n

The Clippers receive a younger foundational player in Garland. He made the All-Star team last season. He helped power the league\u2019s top offense. Garland turned 26 last month. He remains under contract through 2028. This season, he averages 18.0 points and 6.9 assists per game. Garland shoots 36 percent from three and 86.1 percent from the free-throw line. He has appeared in only 26 games.<\/p>\n

Garland missed the start of the season after surgery to repair turf toe in his left foot. He is currently sidelined with a right great toe sprain.<\/p>\n

CLEVELAND \u2014 The LA Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers have completed a trade centered on point guards James Harden and Darius Garland. The Clippers acquire Garland, a two-time NBA All-Star. The Cavaliers land the 2018 MVP and 2025 All-NBA selection in Harden. The Clippers will also receive Cleveland\u2019s 2026 second-round pick. Cavaliers Trade Darius Garland For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":175841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,9,27,3],"tags":[50244,1937,444,1382,662],"class_list":["post-175840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-clippers","category-news","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-darius-garland","tag-james-harden","tag-nba-trade","tag-nba-trade-deadline"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175843,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175840\/revisions\/175843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}