Harden is averaging 25.4 points - his personal best since the 2019-2020 season- and 8.1 assists per game this year. Meanwhile, the Clippers will be receiving a young star guard in Garland, who is averaging 18.0 points and 6.9 assists per game through just 26 games after missing time due to multiple toe injuries.
Garland is considered day-to-day after not playing during Sunday's matchup against the Trail Blazers.
The 36-year-old Harden is currently in his 17th season and has a $42.3 million player option for the 2026-2027 season. The former 2017-2018 NBA MVP will now be heading to his sixth team after spending the previous two-and-a-half years with the Clippers.
Garland, 26, who was a vital piece in the Cavaliers' stellar 2024-2025 season, still has two years left on his contract and is set to earn $42.1 million next season and $44.8 million in the following. He earned his second All-Star selection last season, averaging 20.6 points, 6.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.
The two players could be suiting up for their new teams when they both showdown in tomorrow's Clippers-Cavs matchup.
Harden's career
After starting his NBA career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, winning the 2011-2012 Sixth Man of the Year Award, he would go on to spend the next nine years with the Houston Rockets (2012-2020), where his career would flourish.
Harden would earn nine-straight All-Star selections, three MVP runner-ups (2014, 2016, 2018), seven All-NBA selections, and become a three-time scoring champ in three straight seasons (2017-2019), averaging 30.4, 36.1, and 34.3 points in each season, respectively. Before his scoring champion run, Harden also won his first assist champion award in 2016 after averaging a league-high 11.2 per game.
Houston would later trade Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, where his time was well short, spending half the 2020-2021 season with the team, then half of the 2021-2022 season before they traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers.
He would go on to become a two-time assist champion after leading the league with 10.7 per game during his one and only full season with the Sixers before they traded him to LA.
Harden currently ranks 11th on the all-time NBA scoring list with 28,805. He'll need 776 more if he wants to leap NBA legend Moses Malone for the No. 10 spot.