James Harden
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James Harden was recently traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Los Angeles Clippers made the move to send James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick. Harden will now team up with Donovan Mitchell and help the Cavaliers make a postseason push.
Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho does not believe Harden is a championship player and he made that known when he heard the news about Harden wanting to leave the Clippers. “I would not want James Harden if I was a championship-caliber team,” Acho said. “Nothing about James Harden spells championship, nothing about James Harden career spells championship, he is all of the way over the hill. And James Harden has never been a catalyst for winning championships.”
Acho made it clear that he thinks teams who have a good chance at competing for a title should stay away from Harden. But Cleveland decided to make the move for Harden and will hope he can help them in a big way.
James Harden Joining the Cleveland Cavaliers
Shams Charania
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Clippers are trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. Prolific swap of the star point guards.
The Cavaliers are one of the top-five teams in the Eastern Conference and throughout the last few years, Cleveland has been one of the top teams in the conference. Harden and Mitchell will be the new duo in Cleveland and the Cavaliers now have two players who can score and also have a play maker in Harden.
On the season, Harden is averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game. He is top three in the league in assists per game. This will be Harden’s sixth team during his career and third time playing in the Eastern Conference. Harden will most likely be the primary ball-handler when he joins Cleveland and he will have a good cast of teammates. He’ll be able to utilize the pick and roll game well with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Harden to get acclimated with his new team and the new plays.
Can the Cavaliers Compete for a Title With Harden?
Now with the addition of Harden, does Cleveland have what it takes to make a title run? Harden has only appeared in the NBA Finals one time in his career, and that was with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played a significant role coming off the bench for the Thunder when they made it to the finals.
But Harden has not been able to get back to the finals since. Emmanuel Acho does not believe Harden can succeed being the main guy on a team and he was not for any championship-contending team trading for him. “So why in the world would anybody want to trade for James Harden if they actually have championship aspirations,” Acho said.
Harden has played on teams in the past who have had good players on the roster, but could not get it done when it counted. He’s also played with other superstars and could not come away with a title. We will get a chance to see how much of an impact Harden will have with his new team and see how far they can go.