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"Who was your inspiration? Who did you watch and be like, I like how he plays, I want to integrate that into my game?" Derik Queen: "Really James Harden. When I wanted to learn how to dribble, he was on the Rockets doing his one-on-one stuff. Even Oklahoma City, I caught the later years of OKC. But when he was on the Rockets, he just used to do his one-on-one and I was just like, I want to do that. Him and LeBron are my favorite players. LeBron, I'm not athletic like him, but all three of us can pass. Those two were my favorite, so I just try to play like them, but at a different size and I'm not fast like them. I still fry you though."
Patrick Beverley: "Montrezl Harrell gets into a verbal argument with Paul George. That dynamic doesn't look good. They let Montrezl Harrell walk. Lou Kennard comes in, he signs a four-year $60 million deal. They got Lou Williams, the most six-man in NBA history, they got him on an $8 million deal. Lou Williams pissed. I come in, I ask for an extension, they try to lowball me. So they're doing all of this to keep superstars happy. And then you get rid of Paul George, and you get James Harden, and you get Russell Westbrook. You get rid of them, and you cut Chris Paul. Only person that you keep is Kawhi Leonard. Phenomenal basketball player. Don't get it twisted. Kawhi Leonard, when healthy, is a phenomenal basketball player. It's not even close actually. He has Michael Jordan numbers when he's healthy."
Patrick Beverley: "I signed a three-year $40 million contract with the Clippers. I turned down a three-year $50 million with Sacramento just to stay with the Clippers. For me to be there, all the great guards they've had, I was part of that starting five that helped the Clippers go to the first time ever Western Conference Finals. They've had great guards. They've had James Harden, they had Russell Westbrook, they have Chris Paul, they've had Rajon Rondo. They had a plethora of point guards that just can never help them get over the hump, but I was part of that starting five that helped them finally, first time ever, and they haven't been back since, get to the Western Conference Finals."
The Cleveland Cavaliers have re-signed guard James Harden to a multi-year contract, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today. Harden (6-5, 220) appeared in 70 games (all starts) this past season, including 44 games with the Clippers and 26 games with the Cavaliers, averaging 23.6 points (17th in the NBA), 8.0 assists (4th in the NBA), 4.8 rebounds and 1.13 steals in 34.8 minutes, while also shooting a career best .884 free throw percentage (15th in the NBA). The 17-year guard also recorded 20 double-doubles and two triple-doubles on the year while making 215 three-pointers, the 15th-most made triples in the NBA this past season. It was the eighth time in his career with at least 200 made three-pointers in a single season. In his 26 games with the Cavaliers, Harden averaged 20.5 points, 7.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 33.8 minutes.
The league is also taking away five first-round draft picks from the Clippers in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033. The 76ers still have some Clippers draft capital from the trade that sent James Harden to Los Angeles in 2023, but that will be unaffected by the league’s punishments, a source confirmed.
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Kyrie Irving has a $42 million player option in 2027-28, and him getting dealt to a contender might rest on a handshake deal (like James Harden in Cleveland) on the option year. Western Conference executive: “If you have some sense that, OK, we pay him $40 million this year, and next year he opts out and we can do a two-year deal or a three year deal at a lesser number, then I think you can do something. If he comes back and he is scoring 24, 25 points (per game), then you will have teams willing to give up a first-round pick for him. Maybe more, maybe a young player, too. But with his injury history, I don’t think you give up more than one first.”
Law Murray: Covering LeBron James last season, he had an internal conflict going on with how much he had to defer to Austin Reaves (even Bron understood that Luka was the top dawg in any circumstance). Bron was very pleased with being able to still be the lead option in a postseason setting, particularly a winning one against the Rockets. But he's still on the other side of 40. I don't look at him like a traditional point guard, and he surely won't be guarding point guards. The ball is still going to be brought up primarily by Tyrese Maxey, but Maxey already is used to sharing the rock and being effective off of other ball-dominant players. He started his career with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. He worked with James Harden for two seasons. Even last year, VJ Edgecombe got touches as a rookie. So Maxey will be sharing playmaking duties with James, without James having to ever over-handle the basketball. It should help everyone in that offense, especially Jaylen Brown, get to a point where they are all efficient and get the ball in places where they can maximize damage. I don't think it happens overnight, but if they get enough games together in the regular season, then Philadelphia's offense has a vast ceiling in the spring.
Kevin Durant appears to be doubling down on his Golden State Warriors slander … though it’s not actually that simple. A few weeks after saying the 2026 Philadelphia 76ers are more talented — on paper — than the championship-winning Warriors teams on which Durant played, he appeared to throw the Warriors under the bus again in an interview at the Boardroom. When asked to name the best team — on paper — for which he played, Durant initially responded with the Brooklyn Nets. As Durant explained in the clip, the amount of talent and accomplishments on that team were tough to beat. After naming members of the Nets — including Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, Patty Miles — Durant said, “We had the names on that team. He then explained why he didn’t think his Warriors teams qualified. “I know people are going to say, ‘the Warriors, you had Steph and Klay.’ But I’m like, when you look at that team, though. At the time, Steph was an MVP but Klay and Draymond didn’t get the accolades at that time. They were like one-time All-Stars. “These [Nets players] I’m talking about already completed their careers, damn near, and got all of their accolades on top of me, James and Kyrie. So when you’re just putting accolades on the table, I would say that team.”
That’s the same argument he made when comparing his Warriors’ teams to the 2026 76ers. Unfortunately, Durant also seemed to anger Klay Thompson with his explanation. Except … upon more reflection, Durant realized he actually picked the wrong team. “Obviously, the best team I played on was the Warriors. I want to say the 2019 team was crazy, but we got hurt. With Cousins at the five, that’s probably the best team I’ve been a part of on paper.” Durant said that team didn’t come to mind initially because he forgot Cousins was on it. Cousins missed a fair amount of time during the 2018-19 NBA season, which explained why he initially dismissed the Warriors.
Nick DePaula: James Harden teases his 11th Adidas signature sneaker — the Harden Vol 11. “Right when you see it, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, what’s that?’ And then you know: ‘That’s the Harden. That’s a Volume,’” Harden told me about his approach to design. “We got our own style & our own swag.”
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Ethan Sands: ’Darius Garland is owed 87 million dollars over the next two years while James Harden just signed a contract for three years and 97 million dollars. So it is still a flexibility move by the front office. As of January 20th, 2026, the Cavs had 392 million dollars on their books, a salary of 228 million and a tax of 164 million. They were the most expensive team in the NBA. They were over the second apron. As of August 20th, they're at 218, salary at 209 and the luxury tax of nine million dollars.’
James Harden is now No. 7 all-time in guaranteed career earnings.
— HoopsHype (@hoopshypeofficial.bsky.social) 2026-08-20T21:54:44.113Z
Michael Scotto: Sources: James Harden and the Cavaliers have agreed to a 3-year, $97 million fully guaranteed deal, including a third-year player option and 15% trade kicker. Harden’s agents, Mike Silverman, Troy Payne, and Brandon Grier worked with Cavs officials to finalize the deal. ESPN 1st
