James Harden was excellent for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 112-103 win in Game 4 to even up their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Pistons. Plagued by turnover woes and shooting inefficiency troubles to begin the series, Harden just put up his best game of the series thus far on Monday, recording 24 points and 11 assists in support of Donovan Mitchell's 43-point explosion buoyed by his 39-point performance in the second half.
Harden's choice of clothing in the postgame presser was a bit curious, however. In particular, his decision to wear a Los Angeles Angels cap was eyebrow-raising, as the Angels were in town to visit the Cleveland Guardians — the city's home MLB team.
However, it's not like Harden wore this out of spite or anything like that; in fact, he's oblivious to the fact that the Angels are in town as he's so locked into the 2026 NBA playoffs.
“I don’t know who playing who, nothing. I wasn’t watching TV or nothing. I just wake up and do the same thing everyday. Practice everyday,” Harden said in his postgame presser, via HoodiGarland on X (formerly Twitter).
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Reporter: "Angels cap because they're in town this week?"
James Harden: “I don’t know who playing who, nothing. I wasn’t watching TV or nothing. I just wake up and do the same thing everyday. Practice everyday.”
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/aK6SV1yb78
— ¹⁰ (@HoodiGarland) May 12, 2026
Harden was born and raised in Los Angeles, so he simply might be paying homage to his roots with his choice of cap for the night. This is not something Cavs fans should take personally whatsoever, especially when The Beard is doing his best to get the Cavs over the hump and back into the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018.
It wasn't even that long ago when Harden was playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, the NBA that's most comparable to the Angels, what with them being the “small brother” to the city's big brother teams (Lakers, Dodgers). But perhaps this is the opening the Guardians organization needs to give Harden a cap that represents his NBA team more aptly.
James Harden was excellent for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 112-103 win in Game 4 to even up their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Pistons. Plagued by turnover woes and shooting inefficiency troubles to begin the series, Harden just put up his best game of the series thus far on Monday, recording 24 points and 11 assists in support of Donovan Mitchell's 43-point explosion buoyed by his 39-point performance in the second half.