James Harden made his return to the Cavaliers lineup on Sunday, scoring 22 points in 36 minutes—both team highs—in a 106–102 comeback win over his former team, the Nets. Harden missed two games after suffering a fracture in his right thumb, an injury that he plans to play through moving forward.
If Harden was feeing the effects of the injury, it didn’t show much on Sunday. He was 5-for-9 from the field, knocking down 4-of-7 threes and he got back to his old ways of racking up points at the free throw line, where he knocked down 10-of-12 shots. Harden added a team-high eight assists and grabbed nine rebounds, though he also had five turnovers.
While the thumb injury appears to be minor, any injury to a veteran like Harden can raise the specter of retirement. At 36, Harden has started to bounce around the league, and after the trade to Cleveland, is playing for his fourth franchise in the last five seasons. He is still one of the NBA’s most reliable playmakers, though, and while he acknowledges that retirement can’t be far off, he hopes he still has a fair amount of time left before he rides off into the sunset.
James Harden on how much longer he wants to play: “I know it’s coming soon. Hopefully, later than soon, but it’s a reality. Everybody has to go through this at some point. Just trying to continue to keep my body in shape and play well. We’ll see what happens in the next few… pic.twitter.com/BPvW7Fwtfj
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) March 2, 2026
“I know it’s coming soon. Hopefully later than soon,” Harden said when asked whether he’s thought about a timeline for his retirement.
“It’s reality. Everybody has to go through it at some point, but for me hopefully, just trying to continue to keep my body in shape and play well, man. Play well every single game and we’ll see from what happens in the next few years, but take it one game at a time and cherish the moments.”
So far, it looks like he has some quality moments on the court ahead with his new team. The Cavaliers are 7–1 with Harden in the lineup after the win in Brooklyn. At 38–24, they remain in fourth in the Eastern Conference, but are in striking distance of the third-place Knicks (39–22) and second-place Celtics (40–20). At full strength, with Harden joining dynamic scoring guard Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt and the twin bigs of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen up front, Cleveland has one of the more formidable starting lineups in the NBA.
They must, of course, hope that Harden continues to respond well to treatment and that the up-and-down playoff history that has plagued his career to this point takes a positive turn when the postseason opens in a few weeks.
If things break right, Harden could pad his Hall of Fame résumé in these last few years of his career.
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