{"id":785974,"date":"2026-07-08T01:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785974\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:49:13","slug":"james-hardens-new-deal-could-be-three-years-to-give-cavs-more-flexibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785974\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden\u2019s new deal could be three years to give Cavs more flexibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> signed one of the members of their starting backcourt, Donovan Mitchell, to a new four-year extension<\/a> earlier today. James Harden is expected to get a new deal shortly after he declined his player option for this upcoming season. As of now, he and the Cavs are just waiting to see how some of the other dominoes fall this summer before inking a new contract.<\/p>\n

Joe Vardon of The Athletic<\/a> reported on Tuesday that the framework and dollar amount for a new contract are already worked out between Harden and the Cavs. Depending on whether the Cavs can convince LeBron James to sign with them (or maybe another free agent), Harden is reportedly willing to spread that money over three years instead of two.<\/p>\n

Harden\u2019s willingness to do this could greatly help the Cavs. A longer contract would mean a lower annual amount, which would help Cleveland if they decide they want access to the taxpayer mid-level exception or the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. It\u2019s worth noting that Mitchell\u2019s new deal doesn\u2019t go into effect until the 2027-28 season, so it has no impact on the cap for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

As it stands, the Cavs are $25.3 million<\/a> under the first apron and $37.9 million<\/a> under the second, not factoring in a new contract for Harden. Teams under the first apron have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception<\/a> (up to $15 million). But if the Cavs used that or a portion of that, they would be capped at the first apron.<\/p>\n

Presumably, Harden wouldn\u2019t be taking a big enough discount to give the Cavs enough room under the first apron to have access to a meaningful portion of that $15 million. However, his signing for a lower annual value, combined with trading or stretching a player like Dennis Schroder, could help them do so. There\u2019s also the taxpayer midlevel exception of $6 million the Cavs could access if they\u2019re under the second apron but above the first.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Harden signs for a three-year deal likely depends on LeBron\u2019s decision. As of now, the Cavaliers are in a holding pattern waiting for James.<\/p>\n

Last season, Harden averaged 23.6 points and eight assists in 70 combined regular season games for both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Cavs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers signed one of the members of their starting backcourt, Donovan Mitchell, to a new four-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,97225,590,85],"class_list":["post-785974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cavs-rumors","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785974","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=785974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}