On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Clippers officially traded James Hard to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Darius Garland. 

The deal seemingly came out of nowhere as the Clippers have been arguably the hottest team in the league since mid-December, fighting their way back into a Play-In spot after a 6-21 start. 

News of a potential Harden for Garland swap materialized on Monday night, and the trade was announced roughly 24 hours later. 

Speaking to Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN, Harden said that he didn't want to hold up the Clippers' future and thought a trade would allow them to rebuild and gain draft capital. 

Garland is 10 years younger than Harden, and the Clippers acquired a future second-round pick as well. 

While the Clippers have been playing better basketball than the majority of teams for a month and a half, they're still ninth in the Western Conference, three games behind the eighth-place Golden State Warriors and eight games behind the crowded scene between the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Minnesota Timberwolves at five through seven. 

Harden told ESPN, "I see an opportunity to win in the East. So as much as I wanted to stay in L.A. and give it a go, I've never won one before. As a basketball mind, I think we have a bit better chance."

The Cleveland Cavaliers are fifth in the East, two and a half games behind the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, who sit second and third. The Cavaliers had the best record in the East and the second-best record in the NBA last season. They lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Indiana Pacers, though injuries to Garland and Evan Mobley hampered the team. 

Harden has only made the NBA Finals once, way back in 2012 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has made the Western Conference Finals on two other occasions, but hasn't been out of the second round since 2018. 

In speaking to ESPN, Harden denied that he requested a trade from the Clippers. 

That wasn't the case at all," he said. "In life, not even just basketball, when things don't work out, there are ways to end things in relationships without having to crack each other."

He said that it was a case where they didn't see a future together and outgrew each other. 

Harden has been traded four other times in his career, with each trade having its own unique backstory and reason as to why his time came to an end. 

He was traded from Oklahoma City to Houston after the team had made the Finals and was thought to be the next great dynasty with Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant. He was traded from Houston to Brooklyn after allegedly wearing a fat suit. He went from Brooklyn to Philadelphia over unhappiness with the availability of Kyrie Irving. Finally, he went from Philadelphia to Los Angeles due to distrust of 76ers general manager Daryl Morey.