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One of the worst-kept<\/a> secrets of the ongoing NBA<\/a> offseason was that the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> and veteran guard\u00a0<\/span>James Harden<\/a>\u00a0basically had a handshake agreement regarding Harden’s eventual return to the Cavaliers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It now appears that the Cavaliers and Harden have made things official.<\/p>\n On Thursday afternoon, Shams Charania<\/a> of ESPN reported that Harden and the Cavs agreed to a new three-year, $97M contract with a player option for 2028-29 and a trade kicker. The news is hardly surprising, as Chris Fedor<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>of the Cleveland Plain Dealer shared back in May that Harden would opt out of his previous contract and then “receive a new multi-year deal from the Cavs as part of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge pre-existing agreement” this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Cavaliers acquired Harden this past February as a championship-or-bust move. Cleveland later blew<\/a> a 22-point lead en route to losing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals\u00a0to the New York Knicks<\/a>, and the Knicks ultimately swept the Cavaliers. New York then went on to win the NBA Finals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier in the offseason, the Cavaliers and\u00a0<\/span>Donovan Mitchell agreed to a four-year, $273M maximum<\/a> contract extension that included a player option for the 2030-31 campaign and a full trade kicker. More recently, it was\u00a0<\/span>learned<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday that Cleveland had acquired Peyton Watson from the\u00a0<\/span>Denver Nuggets<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in a multi-team trade that also involved the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Washington Wizards<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Charania noted, the Cavaliers are now on track to feature a starting lineup of Harden, Mitchell, Watson, Evan Mobley\u00a0and fellow big man\u00a0<\/span>Jarrett Allen after LeBron James<\/a>\u00a0chose to\u00a0<\/span>sign<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0<\/span>Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>\u00a0in free agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To compare, the 76ers plan to start James,\u00a0<\/span>Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid,\u00a0<\/span>Jaylen Brown\u00a0and V.J. Edgecombe. After the Harden news went public,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>DraftKings Sportsbook<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0listed the Knicks as the betting favorites at +340 odds to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2027 NBA Finals. The Sixers were second on the list at +380 odds, while the Cavaliers were fifth at +900 odds.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nHow much did the Cavaliers give James Harden to return? \u00a0<\/h2>\n
Cavaliers vs. 76ers could become an epic showdown<\/span><\/h2>\n