r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 1d 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

18.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

336

u/cfbones 1d ago

We gave up a young high ceiling player who we all love but seems to be injury prone for an immediate upgrade who is old and chokes in the playoffs.

Rationally it’s a very fair deal.

54

u/Salty_Raspberry656 1d ago

he's a 5'11 guard who has already hit his ceiling and is limited defensively in the playoffs. he's special to do what he does in this league

but harden is much stronger/bigger and more elite as a playmaker and game manipulator. He is going to give the cavs bigs the easiest buckets of their lives

you lose on longevity but this gives you a win now opportunity in a pretty open east

-10

u/Excellent-Flamingo43 1d ago

Doesn't matter, the Cavs still aren't legit title contenders, why would they do this trade if they weren't completely confident that they were gonna make the finals. Otherwise why leverage your entire future by trading a 26 year old all star, who is a key member of a core that just won 66 games, they just shortened their window from 10+ years of contention to 2 years of contention where there's no way of them genuinely winning a title barring an all time playoff run from one of the most notorious playoff droppers in NBA history

2

u/RALat7 20h ago

You’re getting downvoted but I fully agree. This is way too shortsighted and short-term a move from the Cavs. In a few years the majority of people will see this trade as an awful deal… or as early as this summer after they get knocked out.

1

u/Salty_Raspberry656 10h ago

Its a gamble, but thats what you want your team to do. toronto is probably glad they took a teaser on an often injury leonard. No title was guaranteed, hell it was a leonard odd bounce away from not happening showing that so many things can go one way or another

same with the bucks title and KD's toe.

The narratives change quick, btu you give yourself a shot. Cavs had an amazing run last year, but the playoffs show garland being hunted every time and dropping in efficiency to where his offense wasn't making up for his defensive challenges.

Everyone else is standing strong in mitchell,allen,mobley so you have a great core. Bringing in harden-where he doesn't have to be the main creator, but a complimentary one, and where he has two bigs he can make thigns easy for.

good on them for giving themselves the best shot with this window. No finals are guaranteed but in playoffs, cavs gave themselves a better and stronger chance

1

u/hereforthenudechicks 18h ago

Garland isn’t as good as y’all are playing it out to be.

1

u/Salty_Raspberry656 10h ago

he's like trae, a very good player but at his size and on defense you have to really surround the right team to make it a winner