{"id":589694,"date":"2026-02-08T03:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/589694\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T03:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:37:24","slug":"james-harden-cleared-to-debut-for-cavaliers-after-trade-from-clippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/589694\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden Cleared to Debut for Cavaliers After Trade from Clippers"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> star James Harden<\/a> grabbed a lot of headlines right before Thursday\u2019s NBA<\/a> trade deadline. This was after reports emerged<\/a> about the former MVP\u2019s move away from the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harden had missed the last two games for L.A. due to personal reasons. As it turns out, they were already facilitating a blockbuster move to the Cavs. Ultimately, the Clippers sent Harden to Cleveland in exchange for Darius Garland<\/a> and a future second-round pick.<\/p>\n

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Harden\u2019s move to the Cavs marks the 11-time All-Star\u2019s sixth team in his 17-year NBA career. The 36-year-old parted ways with L.A. after two and a half seasons with the organization.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden reacts during a game.Isaiah J&period; Downing-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Isaiah J&period; Downing-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Cavs and the Clippers officially announced<\/a> Harden\u2019s trade on Wednesday. He missed Cleveland\u2019s game on Thursday against, incidentally, the Clippers, with his trade still pending.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers are back in action on Saturday in another road matchup. They face the Sacramento Kings<\/a> in Golden 1 Center for the fourth out of their current five-game road trip.<\/p>\n

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The good news for the Cavs is that Harden has been cleared to make his debut. The team announced in the\u00a0injury report<\/a> that Harden is officially available to play against the Kings.<\/p>\n

Harden played 44 games for the Clippers before his midseason trade. He averaged 25.4 points on 41.9% shooting, 4.8 rebounds, 8.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 35.4 minutes per contest. The three-time NBA scoring champ also knocked 3.1 triples per game on a 34.7% clip.<\/p>\n

The Cavs have won seven out of their last eight games, including Wednesday\u2019s 124-91 blowout win against the Clippers. They enter Saturday\u2019s matchup with a 31-21 record. As of writing, they are fourth in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

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Harden\u2019s arrival gives the Cavs\u2019 championship aspirations this season a massive boost. <\/p>\n

Related: James Harden Reveals Real Reason Behind Clippers-Cavaliers Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Feb 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Cleveland Cavaliers star James Harden grabbed a lot of headlines right before Thursday\u2019s NBA trade deadline. This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,193,559,791,560,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,477,2149],"class_list":{"0":"post-589694","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-darius-garland","12":"tag-james-harden","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-clippers","15":"tag-laclippers","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-losangelesclippers","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-sacramento-kings","22":"tag-the-cavs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116032927296782723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589694","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=589694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}