Cleveland Cavaliers star James Harden is expected to become a free agent this summer.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden has been ranked the fifth-best free agent this summer.
NBA analyst Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has Harden ahead of Washington Wizards guard Trae Young but behind Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein.
Harden has a player option for next season worth $42.3 million. He's expected to decline it and sign a new contract with the Cavaliers this summer.
"Putting that all together, Harden and the Cavaliers presumably have an understanding that may include the veteran guard opting out to re-sign on a two-year deal starting at around $32.5 million (give or take $2.5 million)," Pincus wrote. "While it's easy to denigrate Harden and the Cavaliers' struggles against the New York Knicks, the trade galvanized the team through the regular season and led to the first conference finals berth since LeBron James was in Cleveland."
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 Co.
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.
"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, but Atkinson isn't going anywhere.
Atkinson is 116-48 in the regular season and 13-14 in the playoffs with the Cavaliers.
Most people expect Harden and Mitchell to be back with the Cavaliers next season as well. 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.
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