Despite his free-agent status, James Harden is playing ball with the Cleveland Cavaliers' front office as it attempts to find ways to improve the team.
While the Cleveland Cavaliers have been searching for ways to improve the roster ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, James Harden has been playing his part by watching from a distance and being a team-first guy.
Though quiet to this point, there's no question that the Cleveland Cavaliers are up to something in mid-August. Recently, they made a cost-cutting move by sending Dennis Schroder to the Charlotte Hornets for Tre Mann. Now, murmurs around league circles suggest that Max Strus may be the next name on that list to go because of his $16.6 million contract expires at the end of the upcoming campaign.
In the meantime, James Harden remains unsigned, which has Cleveland and its fans wondering what the hold-up is. Having been spurned in the past, it's an understandably uneasy feeling, but rest assured, the soon-to-be 37-year-old will sign back with the franchise once the dust settles. Harden publicly expressed his desire to return after the Eastern Conference Finals, and neither party has a different direction to go in at this point.
The Cavs are looking for avenues to land Peyton Watson in a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets, and that requires the aforementioned manuevering due to the latter being the only team left in the second apron. Watson's potential landing in Cleveland would mean a high salary and long-term outlook, so Harden is playing ball with his front office to better the organization and get his own financial security for multiple years.
In the latest episode of Courtside with Cavs, Spencer German and I talked about Harden's cooperation and why it deserves praise instead of of angst around Northeast Ohio:
We've been as hard on him as anybody, especially if you go back and watch the tape from the Raptors' series. We were coming down on him. But he's being team-first here. He knows that he wants to be here. The Cavs know that he wants to be here, too.
So, I feel like them coming to an agreement like, 'Hey, if we can get the team to be better, can you just shave off $5-6 million annually, but still get you paid and those multiple years?' And then, we'll figure it out from there?' I feel like that's smart on both parties. It deserves a ton of recognition because he could be like, 'Give me my $35 million now,' and the team would be less flexible. Right now, the Cavs currently aren't in either apron.
It is one week until Harden's 37th birthday, and Cleveland should gift him his present sooner than later. It all depends on how quickly it can find a wing to slot into the roster, whether that is Watson, Jonathan Kuminga, DeMar DeRozan, or whoever else.
