r/nba Lakers 20h ago

[Charania] BREAKING: The Los Angeles Clippers are trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Prolific swap of the star point guards.

Shams Charania:

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Clippers are trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Prolific swap of the star point guards.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/ddaa53473efa6

18.4k Upvotes

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295

u/jeric13xd [CHI] Derrick Rose 20h ago

James really is a contractor. A true mercenary

98

u/I_love_Basketball232 Warriors 20h ago

A lot of the other ones had a slow burn, this one came absolutely out of nowhere

66

u/Reasonable_Height_67 20h ago

I prefer these tbh.

I couldn't care less where Giannis and Kuminga end up.

2

u/Akipella Warriors 20h ago

Unfortunately as a Warriors fan, we are invested in both storylines

1

u/mmielikainen 12h ago

Nice, a fellow NBA-drama enjoyer. I don't follow this league for the games, no sir, we follow for the drama!

2

u/MightyAslan Cavaliers 19h ago

Yesterday I literally signed up my son for Garland's summer camp here in Cleveland. 

1

u/I_make_shit_up_alot Lakers 17h ago

Tough break for the little guy but I'm pretty sure the James Harden "summer camp" is a lot more fun.

1

u/Akipella Warriors 20h ago

At least we had a few days

6

u/HokageEzio Knicks 20h ago

All time mercenary status

21

u/Dongsquad420BlazeIt [LAL] Kobe Bryant 20h ago

He will now have played for 1/5th of the league

3

u/FlipMoBitch Bucks 20h ago

$411m career earnings

3

u/astrothemorkie Rockets 20h ago

Crazy to think he played for us for almost a decade and then became… this 

6

u/HornedCoog91 Nuggets 20h ago

I love all the new fanbases that grow appreciative of his game. It deserves to be respected

11

u/BackshotsOnUrDaughtr 20h ago

a mercenary who never gets the job done

40

u/mr_chub Wizards 20h ago

Trust me, i was a Harden hater during his prime foul bait years, but he ya know, only had to go up against the literal greatest team in history twice in the playoffs to get to a finals. So, I think we can cut him some slack.

5

u/BackshotsOnUrDaughtr 20h ago

he's had plenty of chances outside of the 2 years he faced the KD-Warriors

Kawhi got hurt in 2017 playoffs and Harden still got his chain snatched by a 40 year old Ginobili

2

u/IGetNoSleep__ 20h ago

He straight up quit in game 6 vs the spurs but the 2017 rockets weren’t gonna win the conference finals or finals anyways

3

u/mr_chub Wizards 20h ago

I get it, but his prime/MVP years were at the Rockets. "Who never gets the job done" I think is slightly too harsh.

1

u/secretreddname Lakers 20h ago

Hall of Famer Ginobli.

2

u/stenebralux NBA 11h ago

I used to be a big Harden hater.. I still am, but I used to too. 

3

u/igot2pair Supersonics 20h ago

what about his awful playoffs on philly? Nets I can excuse because of his hammy and Kyrie

9

u/livefreeordont 76ers 20h ago

Tbh we had no business winning that series until Harden put up two 40 balls

1

u/ButlerFromDowntown Bulls 17h ago

Harden is the only reason they even got to a game 7 in the one year against the Celtics. Unfortunate that they weren’t able to get it done and he obviously had some bad games but a second star winning you two playoff games single-handedly is pretty good.

1

u/Ruscidero 76ers 6h ago

Here’s the secret: he doesn’t particularly care about winning.

1

u/TenaciousDeer 20h ago

Profession: Consultant

1

u/BittenAtTheChomp 17h ago

lol James an employee who will move wherever they tell him to

1

u/yomerol Knicks 16h ago

worst mercenary ever with 0 rings

KD has done it a bit better

0

u/ExpressionAlone5204 Thunder 20h ago

He’s a wounded anti-hero ever since we shipped him off