The Cleveland Cavaliers and James Harden aren’t done yet this season.
The Cavs surely hope they’re just getting started as they tip off their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Pistons. Harden will be counted on to impact games in the backcourt with Donovan Mitchell, with Cleveland hoping to feel validated in its surprise deal that sent Darius Garland to the Clippers to land Harden.
But no matter what Harden does the rest of the postseason, the Cavs have a looming decision to make.
Harden’s contract has a team option on it for next season at $42 million. And while in normal circumstances, that’d probably be an easy number for Cleveland to accept, their salary cap situation is more complicated.
The Cavaliers would love to get under the second apron of the salary cap. And to do that, they might have to move some money around.
That might work out better for Harden anyway.
“Harden had the right to block a trade to Cleveland in February but did not, approving the trade from his hometown LA Clippers,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst wrote in a new article on Tuesday. “The heavy implication was that he and the Cavs had a mutual interest in working out a new contract arrangement this summer.”
Bontemps and Windhorst go on to write that it would make sense to pay Harden a lower annual salary than that option value of $42 million, but to guarantee him multiple years of a contract so that in total value, he comes out ahead.
“Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson prioritized a good working relationship with Harden from the moment the trade was finalized and that partnership, for now, is strong, sources report,” the ESPN duo writes. “If the Cavs get to the conference finals, a clear franchise goal for this season, they might both end up with tidy new deals.”
Cleveland sure would like to see Harden bring this franchise to great heights, and then the money will feel like an easy conclusion.