A busy week for the Cleveland Cavaliers continues.
Following a slew of moves, the Cavaliers took care of the biggest piece of business, bringing back star guard James Harden on a new three-year, $97-million contract, per ESPN's Shams Charania on Thursday.
The deal includes a player option and trade kicker, according to Charania, and pushes Harden's career earnings over $500 million — just the fourth player in NBA history to eclipse that mark, joining LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
Harden, turning 37 next week, also joins James as the only two players to sign for more than $90 million in guaranteed salary at age 37 or older.
The 11-time all-star joined the Cavaliers in February, leaving his hometown Los Angeles Clippers in a deadline swap for Darius Garland. Cleveland finished the regular season 19-7 in Harden's 26 games with the team, entering the playoffs as a fourth seed en route to the franchise's first conference finals appearance since 2018. Harden averaged 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.2 turnovers, while shooting 43.5 per cent from deep in his brief regular-season stint in Cleveland.
Over the course of 70 regular-season games split between the Cavaliers and Clippers, Harden averaged 23.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists on 43.4/37.5/88.4 per cent shooting splits.
That production ticked down through 18 playoff games with the Cavs, however, as Harden put up 19.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 4.7 turnovers on 37.3/29.9/83.1 per cent splits.
Since being dealt to the Brooklyn Nets in 2021, Harden has played for four teams — spending time with the Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Clippers and Cavaliers.
The 17-year vet declined a $42.3 million player option for the upcoming season, but he indicated after the Cavaliers were swept in four games by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals that he would like to return. He also wanted to wait until the Cavaliers were done making a couple of moves before his new agreement was in place.
And now it appears the former league MVP has found a long-term landing spot, continuing his backcourt pairing with fellow star guard Donovan Mitchell, who signed a four-year, $273-million max extension with the Cavaliers earlier in the off-season.
Earlier in the week, Cleveland traded away backup guard Dennis Schroeder to the Charlotte Hornets, freeing up room for a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets for Peyton Watson on a four-year, $88-million deal.
— with files from the Associated Press
