«I’m excited for Cleveland. I’m still chasing my first championship and I’ll do whatever it takes to win,” admits James Harden after blowing up the NBA market with his transfer in exchange for point guard Darius Garland.
With the talent and experience … of ‘La Barba’, the ninth highest scorer in history, Cleveland hopes to make a leap in quality in the next playoffs. The Cavaliers will also give up a second-round draft pick to take Harden, 10 years older than Garland, according to coincidental reports from ESPN and The Athletic.
Harden, who averages 25.4 points and 8.1 assists per game at 36 years old, must form an explosive offensive partnership with Donovan Mitchell (28.8 and 5.8) in a new attempt to seek the first title of his career.
The guard has an excellent individual record with three top scorer titles (2018-2020), an MVP award (2018) and 11 selections for the All-Star Game, but his career has also been marked by instability, having played for six teams and been traded five times.
The arrival of Harden, who has led the Clippers along with Kawhi Leonard since 2023, represents a strong change in the project that the Cavs had been building for years around Garland, Mitchell and the young center Evan Mobley. Garland, 26, is the piece that has paid for the Cavaliers’ failed run in the recent playoffs. The double All-Star was also noted for his constant physical problems.
Basketball recorded other sales this Tuesday, including that of Nikola Vucevic to the Boston Celtics, although none of them distracted the attention paid to the offices of the Milwaukee Bucks, where the fate of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is being decided. The negotiations underway for a possible sale of the Greek, double Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA (2019 and 2020), seemed to keep the rest of the market frozen, which will close on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in New York (20:00 GMT).
Vucevic, a Boston; Jaren Jackson, a Utah
This Tuesday the Boston Celtics, champions in 2024, also came into action by recruiting veteran Nikola Vucevic from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for shooting guard Anfernee Simons, ESPN and The Athletic reported. The arrival of the Montenegrin, who at 35 years old still averages 16.9 points and 9 rebounds, indicates that Boston does not give up fighting for everything this campaign despite the serious injury of its leader, Jayson Tatum.
The other blow on Tuesday came from the Utah Jazz when they announced the signing of Jaren Jackson Jr., one of the most renowned defenders in the competition. The power forward, an All-Star in 2023 and 2025, will arrive from the Memphis Grizzlies along with three secondary players: John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr.
The great loot that Memphis will obtain are three first-round draft picks, which will serve for the reconstruction process that it seems to be embarking on in the midst of another disappointing season.
The Jazz also include youngsters Walter Clayton Jr. and Taylor Hendricks and veterans Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang in the package. Jackson Jr., 26, was chosen fourth in the 2018 Draft and named Best Defender of the Year in 2023. The center’s departure could be followed by that of point guard Ja Morant, with whom he formed one of the most exciting young duos in the NBA.
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