Is James Harden going to be a pain this offseason?
NBA analyst Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report believes the Cleveland Cavaliers' biggest fear for the 2026 offseason involves James Harden.
Harden has a player option for next season worth $42.3 million. He's expected to decline it and enter free agency.
"Harden has a long history of, let's say, fraught contract situations," Hughes wrote. "He'll agitate for an exit the moment he's unhappy with anything, and no one should argue he's above making things uncomfortable for the Cavs—even when he lacks negotiating leverage."
Cleveland acquired Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers in February. Harden helped the Cavaliers make the conference finals this year for the first time since 2018, but the New York Knicks swept the Wine and Gold.
The Cavaliers should have won Game 1 in New York at MSG. Trailing by 22 points with 8:19 left in the fourth quarter, the Knicks had Jalen Brunson go at Harden on defense and it got ugly for Harden and Cleveland.
The result was a 44-11 flurry by New York in the fourth quarter and overtime, completing one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history with a 115-104 victory.
After the Knicks swept the Cavaliers, Harden told reporters that he wants to remain in Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell and Kenny Atkinson, but as Hughes wrote, we have seen Harden get messy with every team he's played for.
"Definitely want to be here," Harden said. "I think we found something. It's tough. It's not ending how we wanted to, but I think we found something."
Harden averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists per game for the Cavaliers in the regular season and 19.2 points and 5.5 assists per game in the playoffs. The future Hall of Famer still hasn't won a championship.
The Cavaliers will be linked to LeBron James and Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer. There will be an abundance of storylines to track in Cleveland this offseason.
Most people expect Harden and Mitchell to be back with the Cavaliers next season. However, until we see it, nothing is guaranteed in today's NBA after the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last season out of nowhere.
Harden has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Clippers and Cavaliers. He's currently considered the greatest player in NBA history to not have a championship. We'll see if The Beard ever wins a ring.
Harden has been traded by every team he's played on. That's why we can't pencil him back with the Cavaliers until the contract is signed.
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