{"id":588050,"date":"2026-02-07T09:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T09:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588050\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T09:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T09:40:19","slug":"cavs-provide-insight-into-possible-james-harden-contract-extension-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588050\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs provide insight into possible James Harden contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Players don\u2019t switch teams in free agency anymore. Instead, they get traded with one year left on their contract to a team that they\u2019re willing to sign an extension with. Based on Koby Altman\u2019s comments to the media on Thursday afternoon, it seems that\u2019s what happened with James Harden\u2019s trade<\/a> to the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Altman was asked if there would be a contract extension beyond this year. He mentioned that it wasn\u2019t appropriate to talk about that at this time and that they can\u2019t negotiate one with him until after the Finals. But then, Altman relayed that this is somewhere Harden wants to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would love to have a future with the Cavaliers,\u201d Altman said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause\u2026he had a de facto no-trade clause, he waived that to come to Cleveland, and I think that\u2019s something that needs to be spoken about. He had control of where he\u2019d be traded or not traded, and he sought us out as a destination, a basketball destination, leaving lovely Los Angeles and an incredible basketball situation where he was at to where he wants to be to compete for a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden is making $39.4 million this season and has a player option for $42.3 for the following season. The Cavs wouldn\u2019t have traded for him if they knew he didn\u2019t want to be here. And presumably, Harden wouldn\u2019t have waived his no-trade clause if he knew they weren\u2019t going to give him a contract extension.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see how this plays out next summer. The Cavs giving him another two-year contract with the second year being a player option would seem likely based on Harden\u2019s age and how he\u2019s conducted business the last several seasons.<\/p>\n

For now, it\u2019s clear that Harden wants to be in Cleveland, and the Cavs are happy he\u2019s here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been banging this drum for a long time: Cleveland\u2019s a great basketball destination,\u201d Altman said<\/a>. \u201cYou can have some of the best years of your career here, and guys want to play here. One of the best players to ever put on a jersey wants to be here in Cleveland, and I think it\u2019s a privilege. I think it\u2019s a privilege and honor that we\u2019re going to see James surpass a bunch of milestones as he chases this championship ring with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Players don\u2019t switch teams in free agency anymore. Instead, they get traded with one year left on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,147,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-588050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cavs-news","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","13":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116028691466031511","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588050","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=588050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}