James Harden, You Are an LA Clipper
This will be the guard's fourth team in the last four seasons.
OK then.
After four months of waiting and wondering by fans and posturing by both the Philadelphia 76ers and LA Clippers, guard James Harden is getting his wish by being sent to the Clippers, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Clippers, who have started the brand new season 2-1, will be sending forwards Marcus Morris Sr., Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, and Kenyon Martin Jr. to Philadelphia to complete the monumental trade. The Clippers will also receive PJ Tucker and Filip Petrusev.
In the end, Harden got what he wanted: he’s heading back home to Los Angeles. It will be the future Hall of Famer’s fourth team in the last four seasons after orchestrating a myriad of trade requests over that period of time.
Harden, who turned 34 in August, averaged 21.0 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 58 games for Philadelphia last season. Harden made the 2023 All-Star game and finished the year shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 38.5 percent on 7.2 three-point attempts per game.
The guard has had his fair share of postseason follies, including last season when he managed to shoot just 39.3 percent from the field across 11 contests, including back-to-back disappointing performances in Game 6 and Game 7 of Philadelphia's Eastern Conference semi-final loss to the Boston Celtics. Harden finished those games shooting 4-for-16 and 3-for-11, respectively — tallying more field goal attempts (27) than points (22) and more turnovers (10) than made field goals (7).
Harden has also dealt with injury issues in recent seasons, including last year when he suffered Achilles soreness in March and April that also affected him into the postseason. As Krishna Narsu of Basketball Index pointed out, Harden shot just 39.6 percent on shots at the rim after that injury, postseason included.
Before the Achilles soreness crept up, Harden had averaged 21.7 points, 10.8 assists, and 6.3 rebounds on 44.6 percent shooting overall and 39.0 percent on 7.3 three-point attempts per game. Harden also shot 59 percent at the rim during that time and 42.7 percent on catch-and-shoot threes. Following the ailment, Harden was at 43.8 percent shooting at the rim during the regular season and 27.3 percent on catch-and-shoot threes (only 11 attempts).
After being an Iron Man in basketball circles throughout his prime run in Houston — Harden played in 95 percent of the Rockets’ games from 2012 through 2020 — the talented guard has only logged time in 72 percent of his teams’ games over the last three seasons.
Still, this is a pretty clear upgrade for the Clippers in the playmaking and ball-handling department.
While Harden can dribble the air out of the ball at times, his presence on the court alone can bend defenses via his marvelous ability in pick-and-rolls and isolation.
The above graphic illustrates the lethality of Philadelphia’s offense whenever a ball screen was set for James Harden, with a wide array of options being used to get him involved. Guards, forwards, centers — they all set screens for Harden last season, and the results were positive across the board.
Another added benefit of Harden’s game over the years has been how often he draws the attention of defenses, specifically the sheer frequency to which he gets double-teamed on the perimeter and forces opposing defenses into rotation as a result.
According to CourtOptix, Harden was double-teamed on 18.6 possessions per game last season, second in the NBA to only Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks. In raw percentage terms, Harden was doubled on 32 percent of possessions, and the 76ers averaged 1.18 points per possession in such settings. For reference, per CourtOptix, Kawhi Leonard was doubled on 13.6 possessions per game, but it came out to 33.3 percent of the time. The Clippers averaged 1.20 points per possession.
Harden is still adept at snaking the pick-and-roll to put defenders in jail in order to manipulate the space afforded to him and thus is usually presented with opportunities to spray out to the corners where shooters await while defenders are forced to dig down and stop a Harden foray.
When operating as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last season, Harden averaged 0.90 points per possession, according to Synergy. That’s down slightly from his Houston days, but it’s still in line with what players like Ja Morant (0.93), Trae Young (0.94), Chris Paul (0.91), and Zach LaVine (0.93) mustered.
Harden also averaged 13.5 drives per game last season, according to Second Spectrum. Like his pick-and-roll ball-handler frequency, it’s also down from his prime with the Rockets, but Harden still found success in that action despite the decreased possession share.
The passing is still there for Harden, grading out as one of the best passers in the game, and his league-leading 10.7 assists per game show that rather easily. But Harden also finished third in potential assists per game, trailing only Tyrese Haliburton and Trae Young, according to Second Spectrum.
Harden’s role with the Clippers will be quite easy to understand: it’s to be the primary ball-handler the team has been searching the last half-decade for, ever since the arrivals of both Leonard and George.
It’s been a long, winding journey for the Clippers, and it’s brought Harden to their doorstep. They traded Lou Williams for Rajon Rondo then dumped Rondo and Patrick Beverley for Eric Bledsoe before shuttling Bledsoe out to Portland. They then brought aboard John Wall with the taxpayer mid-level exception last offseason before ultimately trading him and then signing Russell Westbrook. Westbrook re-signed with the Clippers this past offseason and has been the team’s starting point guard.
The Clippers struck gold with a revamped and revitalized Reggie Jackson, but Jackson was sent to Charlotte during February’s trade deadline so the team could nab center Mason Plumlee. Beyond Jackson’s stint and Westbrook’s brief tenure with the Clippers so far, the organization hasn’t found much success finding lead ball-handlers.
That right there is basically how the three stars complement one another.
All three are guarded tightly from beyond the arc, as you would expect, and all three spend an exorbitant amount of time on the ball before getting off of it, as you’d also expect.
Beyond that, they have varying degrees of similarities. The only major differences are that Leonard is more adept at moving without the ball while George and Harden range from average to poor, respectively. Harden also isn’t the defensive weapon that George and Leonard are, but that part isn’t at all shocking.
In theory, these three players should be good fits. Harden can spend time on the ball without getting too bogged down by double-teams as much, and even if he does get doubled then George and/or Leonard are waiting to pounce.
As with most things in life, this group’s success will largely depend on health. Making sure they’re good to go for the postseason will be crucial. Everything rides on that.
The Clippers have started the season very well on the offensive end, posting a 120.5 offensive rating through three games en route to a 2-1 record with victories over the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs. Per Cleaning The Glass, the Clippers had a 108.8 offensive rating in the half-court, which led the NBA at the time of this deal.
(More analysis and reporting of this breaking news will follow in the coming days.)