-
Kevin Pelton
Multiple Authors
In what could be the most significant deal ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the LA Clippers finalized a trade on Tuesday that involves a swap of point guards Darius Garland and James Harden, along with sending a 2026 second-round pick to the Clippers, as reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Each team aims to reverse their disappointing seasons through this exchange of 2025 All-Stars, both of whom have comparable salaries. The Cavaliers are striving for better playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference, having fallen from their previous season’s top spot, while the Clippers have only managed to climb into the play-in tournament following a rough start despite a recent winning streak.
Let’s explore the ramifications of this trade between Cleveland and Los Angeles, along with its impact on the remainder of the 2025-26 season and beyond.
Cleveland Cavaliers get:
G James Harden
LA Clippers get:
G Darius Garland
2026 second-round pick
Grades for both teams
Cleveland Cavaliers: B
What this deal signifies for the Cavaliers: As I contemplate the trade, the more appealing it becomes for Cleveland to bring on Harden to revitalize a team that currently ranks eighth in offensive efficiency, a stark decline from their leading position with 64 wins last season.
Garland’s ongoing toe injuries have significantly contributed to this downturn. Since April, he has struggled with toe issues, and offseason surgery has proven insufficient. Following his return in November, a bruise to his troubled left toe was followed by a sprain in his right big toe.
When healthy, Garland, now 26, is shooting merely 36% from beyond the arc, down from 40% last year. His usage rate has also dwindled, and his thefts are at their lowest since his rookie year. This decline is reflected in the Cavaliers’ overall performance; they have been outscored by an average of 3.0 points per 100 possessions with Garland on the floor, as per NBA Advanced Stats, marking the worst of any player on the team logging over 500 minutes.
To maintain any success, Cleveland has depended heavily on Donovan Mitchell, who is averaging 33.9 minutes per game and has his highest usage rate since his time with the Utah Jazz. An extended absence of Mitchell could severely harm the Cavaliers, who currently trail by two games for second place in the East and are just three games from falling into the play-in tournament.
In addition, Cleveland prefers to alleviate Mitchell’s workload moving forward. He battled a calf strain and an ankle sprain during last season’s playoffs, posting a mere 24.5% from three-point range in the Cavaliers’ conference semifinals exit to the Indiana Pacers.
This is where Harden enters. even with being 36, he continues to perform at an All-Star caliber. He’s ranked 11th in my wins above replacement player (WARP) metric this season, highest among players not selected for the All-Star Game following this week’s injury replacement for Kawhi Leonard. Harden has participated in 44 of the 47 games available, averaging 35.4 minutes per game.
even if both Harden and Mitchell, aged 29, prefer having the ball in their hands, I believe Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson can utilize Harden’s past experiences to keep both players fresh and effective.
D’Antoni, while coaching Harden alongside Chris Paul in Houston, effectively staggered their minutes to ensure one remained on the court during competitive moments. They played around 20 minutes together, affording Harden approximately 15 minutes as the primary playmaker while Paul logged about 12 minutes.
Currently, the playing time for Harden and Mitchell hints at a similar approach, indicating they’ll likely play together for less than half of the game. If so, I suggest emulating the model seen during Harden’s time with the Brooklyn Nets.
During that era, while paired with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Harden accounted for 28% of the Nets’ plays resulting in shots, free throws, or turnovers—similar to Garland’s 27% usage rate last season—while averaging over 10 assists per 36 minutes. Given Mitchell’s experience playing off the ball with true point guards and the finishing prowess of bigs Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in pick-and-roll situations, Harden should seamlessly integrate into the Cavaliers’ gameplay.
On defense, the 6-foot-5 Harden offers more flexibility compared to the undersized duo of 6-foot-1 Garland and 6-foot-2 Mitchell. With Mobley’s defensive adaptability, there’s a chance Harden could find himself defending power forwards occasionally, leveraging his unique skills as a post defender.
While I recognize concerns about adding Harden to a team aspiring for an NBA title, considering his playoff track record, it’s important to note that Cleveland isn’t dismantling a winning team like last season. The likely outcome without a significant trade for the Cavaliers would have been an early playoff exit, mirroring their previous three postseason results.
Cleveland is acutely aware of Garland’s health, and if they didn’t believe in his ability to return frequently to his All-Star form, making this move now was sensible.
In a one-for-one swap, Harden represented the best available option for the Cavs. While they’ll have to navigate Harden’s player option for the 2026-27 season, they would undoubtedly be willing to meet that contract if they reach the conference finals for the first time since LeBron James left in 2018.
LA Clippers: B-
What this deal means for the Clippers: a significant shift from their prior strategy, which focused on immediate contention while also keeping in mind the potential for cap space with the star-heavy free agency class of 2027—featuring Mitchell.
From this angle, moving on from Harden would have made more sense in December when the Clippers found themselves 15 games under .500. A turnaround of 16 wins in 19 games brought them back into play-in tournament consideration in the Western Conference, hinting at their capability for a playoff upset.
but, I can see the rationale behind the Clippers reassessing their win-now approach. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index estimated their chances of breaking into the top six at just 5%, thus avoiding the play-in tournament and a potential first-round matchup against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. They would need to ascend to at least eighth for a shot at evading the Thunder in the opening round, with the BPI suggesting less than a 40% likelihood of that occurring.
More surprising is the Clippers’ decision to accept Garland’s contract, which extends through 2027-28 at a hefty $44.9 million. Prior to this deal, only starting center Ivica Zubac was signed beyond 2027, and at a much more controllable $21 million.
With Garland alongside Zubac, the Clippers still retain a route to max-level cap space in Summer 2027; however, they’ll need to make further moves to offer two max players the opportunity to unite in L.A.
Garland may very well return to star-level play by then. He has bounced back from rough seasons in the past. His recent performance bears an unsettling resemblance to his 2023-24 season, during which a jaw fracture led to a month of his mouth being wired shut. Back then, Cleveland resisted pressure to dismantle the Garland-Mitchell tandem, and Garland ultimately had his most successful season in 2024-25. Holding the role of the lower-spending team in this deal—an unusual scenario—the Clippers don’t face the same urgency to secure a win as the Cavaliers.
If Garland performs to his previous level, this trade could be a significant triumph for the Clippers. They’re trading a 36-year-old seeking a new contract—probably explaining the cooperation between the Clippers and Harden to find this trade—for a player over a decade younger. In the Dunc’d On Daily Duncs newsletter, Dan Feldman noted the unusual nature of this trade, highlighting the rarity of two former All-Stars, so different in age, being swapped equally.
Becoming younger may prove crucial, especially if the NBA penalizes the Clippers by stripping multiple draft picks for potential salary cap violations, stemming from the league’s investigation into Leonard’s sponsorship deal with Aspiration. This season, the contributions from late-second-round picks Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders have been vital to the Clippers’ resurgence.
The Clippers’ goal for cap space in 2027 also puts them at odds with recent NBA trade trends. Since the Clippers signed Leonard in the summer of 2019—an era that feels ancient in front-office terms—stars have tended to relocate through trade-and-sign extensions rather than via free agency. Should stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo seek new homes this summer, the Clippers might reconsider their strategy regarding cap space.
My primary concern is that Garland’s toe issues may prove more complex to overcome than a fluke jaw injury. Given his smaller frame, any drop in his quickness would be hard to counter. The forthcoming Clippers medical exam is poised to be one of the most critical physical assessments in recent NBA history.
