The Cleveland Cavaliers need to get rid of James Harden.
To be fair to Harden, he was exactly as advertised when he came to Cleveland in a trade deadline shocker back in February. He is a steady hand on the ball, a brilliant passer, a solid shooter, and brings more size on defense than Darius Garland did.
He is also a turnover machine, useless off-ball defensively, and he disappears as a scorer in 90 percent of high-pressure postseason games. Perhaps keeping Garland would have prevented the Cavaliers from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, but they succeeded in the playoffs in spite of Harden and his well-documented playoff drop-off.
What can the front office do with Harden?
What is the front office to do at this point, however? They already sunk the cost of trading away an All-Star point guard for Harden, and he is due for a new contract. Do they let him walk for nothing? That would be poor asset management, and they need more scoring somewhere on the roster.
One option would be another trade, although their options are certainly limited in terms of which teams would be willing to roll the dice on Harden. Some teams have been burned before; others have younger options in the backcourt they want to continue developing.
One potential trade partner? The Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks could trade for Harden
Dallas has a veteran in Kyrie Irving at point guard who, for all that the Brooklyn Nets proved to be a disaster during the pandemic and due to injury, Harden and Irving seemed to click together. The Mavericks are in a transition period and could add an expensive guard due to savings from their best player being on a rookie contract.
What would a trade look like? Harden's value around the league is not very high, so it would not produce an outpouring of assets coming back. The Mavericks, for their part, would love to move off of the contract of Klay Thompson. That becomes the foundation for a deal.
Cleveland has long coveted combo forward P.J. Washington, and he appears to be expendable in Dallas for the right price. Combining Thompson and Washington together would make the salaries work for a sign-and-trade of Harden to Dallas.
Here is what that trade would look like:
Analyzing a James Harden trade
The Mavericks make a short-term swing at forming a dynamic backcourt with plenty of veteran savvy to help create a positive offensive environment for Cooper Flagg. They do so without giving up any long-term assets and square Harden up with Irving.
Does this work for the Cavaliers? On the one hand, Thompson's size and shooting ability give them a different pitch in their wing rotation, perhaps making it more likely they can use Max Strus in a different trade if it comes up. On the other hand, his defensive issues could push him down the pecking order in Kenny Atkinson's rotation. He is not the prime version of himself who played a key role in tormenting the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Washington is the real prize here. He is one of the league's strongest players and would give them a bruising toughness in the frontcourt that they have lacked. He is a capable shooter, giving him real utility at the 4 beside Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Whether he is the third "big" or whether the Cavs also move on from Jarrett Allen, he gives them an element they have long been searching for.
The problem, of course, is where the Cavaliers will replace Harden's shot-creation. Will they also need to pursue another guard on the trade market? Probably so, making this only part of a series of transactions. They could also try to deploy Mitchell as the full-time point guard and stock the roster with wings; that has not always worked in the past, but if Mobley can take a step forward, it's not out of the question.
What is for certain is that the Cavaliers are never winning the Eastern Conference with James Harden in the starting lineup. Chaining themselves to him on a new contract this summer would be compounding a mistake. They need to do everything they can to move on.
This trade, if the Mavericks would get on board, might be their last chance to do so.
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