{"id":580010,"date":"2026-02-03T17:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580010\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T17:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:47:18","slug":"clippers-stunned-over-james-harden-trade-push-as-cavaliers-rumors-swirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580010\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers ‘stunned’ over James Harden trade push as Cavaliers rumors swirl"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Clippers are somehow surprised that a malcontent is ready to leave.<\/p>\n

James Harden told Los Angeles he wants out and that reveal left the franchise \u201cstunned,\u201d according to ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers and Clippers have had \u201cadvanced\u201d talks about a deal that would swap Harden for Darius Garland<\/a>, per Sports Illustrated, although no deal has been agreed to as of Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue did not comment Monday when asked about potential Harden trades, but did praise him.<\/p>\n

\"Los IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\u201cHe means a lot to our team, we\u2019ve seen the last three years, so he means a lot,\u201d Lue said.<\/p>\n

He added when asked if he\u2019d like to retain him: \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want to have James Harden?\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden have bounced around teams and a potential trade could land him with his fifth team (Rockets, Nets, 76ers, Clippers) since the start of the 2020-21 season.<\/p>\n

The Clippers reportedly did not expect to make a trade since the team has rebounded from its disastrous 6-21 start by winning 17 of 22 to pull to 23-26 and enter a Play-In Tournament spot.<\/p>\n

The breaking point for Harden reportedly is that he would like a two-year, $80 million fully guaranteed contract after this season and the Clippers are unwilling to do so, per ClutchPoints.<\/p>\n

Harden signed a two-year, $81.5 million deal prior to the 2025 season but only $13.3 million is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

The Clippers reportedly are valuing cap space for the 2027 season and allocating a good chunk of that cap to a player who would be in his age-38 season doesn\u2019t align.<\/p>\n

That has Harden wanting to start anew, and trade talks have been going on for several weeks, according to ClutchPoints.<\/p>\n

\"LAClippers coach Tyronn Lue. Rob Gray-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Harden sat out Sunday\u2019s win over the Suns and Monday\u2019s loss to the 76ers for \u201cpersonal reasons,\u201d and the NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be professional,\u201d Lue said of how his team will handle trade rumors. \u201cJust come to work every day ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Garland swap would send Harden and his 25.4 points per game to complement Donovan Mitchell, while landing the Clippers a 26-year-old averaging 18.0 points per game while battling injuries.<\/p>\n

Harden has also eyed Atlanta and Minnesota as landing spots, per Jake Fischer<\/a>, but he reported that neither is expected to ultimately land the 2018 MVP.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ClutchPoints reported that Harden is not interested in being dealt to the Raptors or Pelicans, who have both expressed interest.<\/p>\n

He has veto power for any contract plus a 15 percent trade kicker, which could complicate the Clippers\u2019 efforts.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles actually hosts Cleveland on Wednesday in both teams\u2019 final game before the trade deadline, with the cameras sure to centered on Harden and Garland.<\/p>\n

Harden in his third season with Los Angeles after being traded from the 76ers early in the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Clippers are somehow surprised that a malcontent is ready to leave. James Harden told Los Angeles he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,193,559,560,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,2828,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-580010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-clippers","11":"tag-james-harden","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-clippers","14":"tag-laclippers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesclippers","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nba-trade-deadline","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116007957897222115","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}