When the Cavaliers traded for James Harden midseason, the move helped send Cleveland to its first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2018. The roster around him couldn’t sustain it once the games mattered most, and on 92.3 The Fan Cleveland on Monday, Anthony Lima argued that the wrong person has been blamed for that.

The debate started with The Ringer’s end-of-season Top 100 NBA player rankings. “If The Ringer thinks he’s the 30th-best player in the NBA, then we got a problem with how we talk about this league,” Lima said. “If you think he’s trash, if you can move James Harden and get somehow younger and better, who’s younger and better, Darius Garland? No, he’s not. He’s not better.”

“What about the good in the Detroit series? What about the 30-point performance in 43 minutes when nobody had legs left on this team? What about him playing the most minutes for the Cavs?” Harden averaged 19.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.7 steals in the playoffs as Cleveland advanced to the conference finals before getting swept by the eventual champion Knicks.

The team’s heavy workload placed on a roster low in depth was blamed: “He’s playing the most amount of minutes and seventh-most in the NBA playoffs, and the six guys ahead of him were all younger and on Finals teams that played four rounds. We played three. Why? Because we couldn’t rely on anybody else. Evan Mobley cannot be relied upon. Donovan Mitchell cannot be relied upon enough to take the ball out of James Harden’s hands. You don’t have enough guys who can have the ball instead of him. So he had to play that many minutes.”

The Cavs’ roster during the 2025-26 season was considered low in depth. Many analysts observed that the young players they had couldn’t step up when needed and couldn’t deliver, leading to an over-reliance on Harden and Mitchell.

The Harden Contract Decision That Confirms Where Cleveland Stands

ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed that James Harden is declining his $42.3 million player option for 2026-27, with the two sides now working through a new multiyear deal together. The opt-out benefits both parties, as it locks in a higher guarantee for Harden on a multiyear contract, while allowing Cleveland to spread a lower annual salary across more seasons to help manage its tax-apron situation.

Jake Fischer reported that early projections for the new deal have “generally landed in the $60 million range,” with some around the league believing the final figure could land even higher, and that Harden’s recent misdemeanor weapons arrest in Houston is not expected to affect the negotiations in any way.

Harden’s primary goal at this stage of his career is winning his first NBA championship, and he believes that staying in Cleveland gives him his best shot at it. Cleveland’s front office has signaled that it remains committed to keeping Harden alongside Donovan Mitchell as the backbone of the backcourt heading into next season.