The further the NBA calendar moves away from the swap involving James Harden and Darius Garland, the more it looks like a win-win trade for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Clippers. There is one key area in which both players are absolutely thriving — efficiency.
Let’s start with the long ball, which has been the biggest standout for both.
Garland has received a ton of attention for his incredible 3-point shooting since joining the Clippers, and rightfully so. The former Cav has been a sensational shooter in Los Angeles, knocking down 51.0 percent of his 7.8 attempts per game from beyond the arc.
One would imagine Garland comes back down to earth eventually from that unbelievable clip, but until then, the Clippers guard deserves a ton of praise for how much he has bumped his long-range shooting. The less talked about part of this trade is Harden has done the same since.
In his 44 outings with the Clippers, the future Hall of Famer was below the league average (35.9 percent) from deep. Harden was shooting 34.7 percent on his 8.8 triples taken per game. In Cleveland, those marks have jumped up to 44.7 percent on 7.1 attempts from distance.
The Harden-Garland trade has improved both stars’ scoring efficiency
Harden’s efficiency, much like Garland’s, has improved a great deal in his new offense. With the Clippers, the aging star was just treading above the league average true shooting percentage of 58.1 percent with his metric of 59.8. In Cleveland, it has been a lot more decisive in the favor of the Cavs guard.
During the 20 games with the Cavaliers, Harden has posted a true shooting percentage of 65.4. Likewise, his effective field goal percentage of 59.6 with Cleveland comes at a big boost from the 50.6 figure with Los Angeles. Harden has gone from below to above league average (54.5).
Garland has been a powerhouse in both of these categories of late too. In his 13 games over on the West Coast, the Clippers guard is posting scorching marks of 64.9 percent in effective field goal percentage and a true shooting percentage of 66.3.
Both stars have clearly enjoyed the new fit in their respective offenses.
Garland and Harden are both cooking up a daily dose of efficient offense during gamedays. Barring a stunning development from one side or the other, both the Cavaliers and Clippers should continue to be quite satisfied with how they made out from this pre-deadline blockbuster.