Shortly after the deal, Harden spoke about it with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. He denied requesting a trade, according to Shelburne. But he’s “excited” to move to Cleveland.
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Harden, who is one of the NBA’s two all-time top 10 scorers without a championship alongside Karl Malone, believes he will have a better chance of securing that elusive NBA title with the Cavaliers than with the Clippers.
“In Cleveland I see an opportunity to win in the East,” Harden told Shelburne. “They have a very good team, coaching staff, all of the above.
“As much as I wanted to stay in L.A. and try, I’ve never won one before. As a basketball mind, I think we have a little better chance.”
Will Harden be a contender for the Cavaliers?
Harden is right. He joins a Cavaliers team that finished 68-14 last season to have the best record in the Eastern Conference. They’ve already surpassed that loss total this season in a season in which Garland missed nearly half of Cleveland’s games due to injury before being traded.
But they’ve still been competitive at 30-21, which was good for fifth place in the East as of Tuesday night. And the East is very open. Trading a healthy Harden for a hobbled Garland has the potential to propel the Cavaliers to the top of the conference.
James Harden hopes a move to Cleveland will finally allow him to win an NBA championship.
(David Jensen via Getty Images)
Is there a better defense in basketball?
By pairing 10-time All-Star Harden with six-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers have assembled arguably the best backcourt in the NBA. Both players are capable of dropping 50+ points on any night. Mitchell is an elite scorer in his prime. Harden is a former three-time scoring champion and senior playmaker who twice led the league in assists.
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Good luck to opposing teams deciding who to double up at crunch time.
Meanwhile, the Clippers have returned to competitiveness at 23-26 after a brutal 6-21 start. But even if they had retained Harden, this wasn’t a team that was going to compete with the Thunder, Nuggets, Spurs or Rockets to get out of the Western Conference. The addition of Garland doesn’t change that equation.
The Cavaliers are going to compete for a title in Mitchell’s prime, and they may not be done making moves with almost two full days left before Thursday’s trade deadline. The Clippers, meanwhile, remain in limbo.
“We had two and a half incredible years,” Harden said of his time with the Clippers. “We didn’t reach the goals we all wanted to achieve, but I think we created great memories, had great wins and fun times for all of us.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business and I think both sides got what they wanted, they’re in a great place and they’re very happy.”