{"id":696301,"date":"2026-05-26T19:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696301\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:29:10","slug":"james-harden-willing-to-do-whatever-it-takes-for-cleveland-cavaliers-in-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696301\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden willing to do \u2018whatever it takes\u2019 for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Next season, James Harden<\/a> will be 37 years old and in his 18th NBA season, presumably back with the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>. While playing 20 seasons is his ultimate goal, the 11-time NBA All-Star knows the end is on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to hoop. I will know when it\u2019s over,\u201d Harden told Andscape late Monday night. \u201cI definitely want to get to 20 seasons. I\u2019m starting to think about [life after basketball]. I\u2019ve been thinking about it, but actually trying to figure out what I want to do is the thing. You wake up and you\u2019re like, \u2018Do I still want to be in basketball?\u2019 I\u2019m pretty smart and pretty understanding what\u2019s going on and what s\u2011\u2011\u2011 I\u2019ve done even though I haven\u2019t won a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s a lot of questions, man. I\u2019m maneuvering through it right now. I\u2019m figuring it out, which is challenging, but it\u2019s a tough process. It\u2019s fun because I am intelligent and smart enough to figure out what excites me and what I have love and passion for other than the game of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another process is Harden and the Cavaliers regrouping after being swept 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals by the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

After being traded to the Cavaliers from the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 5 for guard Darius Garland and a second-round pick, Harden averaged 20.5 points, 7.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game in 26 games with Cleveland in the regular season. During the Eastern Conference finals, however, he averaged 16.0 points on 38.9% shooting from the field (17.9% 3-point shooting), 4.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 4.3 turnovers in 37 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

With a training camp under his belt next season, Harden believes he and the Cavaliers will be more productive, connected and successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the guys I\u2019m willing to do whatever it takes,\u201d Harden told Andscape. \u201cSo, if I got to play off the ball, less shots, I\u2019m willing to do it. I have no problem with that. You can come talk to me about anything and I\u2019m willing to do it. That was the mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Harden averaged 20.5 points, 7.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 26 regular-season games with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. <\/p>\n

David L. Nemec\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Harden has a player option for the 2026-27 season paying $42.3 million, or he can opt out and become a free agent. ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks recently projected a two-year, $56 million contract in Cleveland for Harden, assuming he exercises his opt-out clause. Such a contract would help the Cavaliers maximize their current championship window by retaining Harden alongside Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen and keep the team under the restrictive second apron.<\/p>\n

When asked during his Game 4 postgame news conference whether he expects to be in Cleveland next season and wants to return, Harden said: \u201cYes, 100 percent. Definitely both, to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden told Andscape his \u201cwhirlwind\u201d time in Cleveland has been \u201cgreat\u201d and reiterated he wanted to remain with the Cavs. While the Los Angeles native is used to dominating the ball most of his NBA career, he adapted to playing more off the ball alongside Mitchell. Harden is also confident the Cavaliers will have a stronger roster next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we got it if we [add] a couple more pieces, [make] adjustments and get a whole full season,\u201d Harden said. \u201cWe went through our adversity in this postseason. We didn\u2019t really know each other. We still don\u2019t really know each other. So, figuring out what works, what doesn\u2019t work. \u2026 What can you go through? What can you take? Me too. You\u2019re yelling at me, cursing. All that is a process. So, we just didn\u2019t know each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think having a full year will definitely help coming off this push. \u2026 Coming into my 18th year, I don\u2019t have no pride. I just want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden is \u2018here for a reason\u2019 \u2013 AndscapeRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

Mitchell told Andscape before the East finals that the Cavs were still adapting to playing with Harden. While Mitchell and Harden were already friends through their connection with Adidas and offseason workouts from prior years, they bonded further since the trade and enjoyed being teammates. Harden said he also plans to attend Mitchell\u2019s wedding this offseason to his fianc\u00e9e, singer and actor Coco Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon is a great, great guy, man,\u201d Harden said. \u201cGreat kid. He\u2019s getting married. He\u2019s on a great path. He gets it. He puts the work in. I think it makes sense, us two, to where he wants to win bad and I do, too. So, we got some reassessments to do this summer. We have to get better. Our roster has to get better, and we will go again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesDonovan Mitchell (right) on James Harden (left): \u201cThis man changed the game of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathaniel S. Butler\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Harden is a future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer who was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2022. The 2018 NBA MVP also has played in 191 playoff games without winning a championship, which is two behind Utah Jazz great Karl Malone for the most in NBA history. Harden and Malone are tied for the most playoff wins (98) without a title.<\/p>\n

Mitchell expressed respect for Harden\u2019s play this season with Cleveland, including quietly playing through injuries to his hamstring and thumb. Harden was criticized for his turnovers, defense and shot selection by media pundits during the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis man changed the game of basketball,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cChanged the game of basketball in ways we have never seen before. We live in such a ring-dominant culture that we were willing to write a guy off, a guy that has transcended basketball. Seventy-five years, no one has done what he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say the same about Steph Curry, [Allen] Iverson, [Michael] Jordan. James Harden is in there. So yeah, I can relate to not reaching a certain point. I also feel like we also don\u2019t talk about [Harden\u2019s] greatness enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden said he doesn\u2019t have any regrets about the trade to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have no regrets in my life,\u201d Harden said. \u201cEverything that I did, I did it. Overall, life is how it should be. You don\u2019t got no complaints, man. I\u2019m pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Next season, James Harden will be 37 years old and in his 18th NBA season, presumably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-696301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}