play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upSport|BasketballJames Harden agrees to three-year, $97m Cleveland Cavaliers deal: ReportHarden, who is about to turn 37, previously declined a $42.3m player option on his contract in bid to secure a multi-year deal.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoHarden moves the ball while defended by New York Knicks guard Miles McBride in the second quarter during game four of the US Eastern Conference finals for the 2026 National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs [File: Ken Blaze/Imagn Images via Reuters]By ReutersPublished On 20 Aug 202620 Aug 2026Former NBA MVP and 11-time All-Star guard James Harden has agreed to a new three-year, $97m contract to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, his agents told ESPN on Thursday.
Per his agents at Equity Sports, the deal includes a player option for the 2028-29 US basketball season and a trade kicker.
Harden’s new deal comes one day after the Cavaliers reportedly acquired fellow guard Peyton Watson from the Denver Nuggets in a trade that also included the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden, who turns 37 next Wednesday, declined a $42.3m player option on his contract earlier this summer in a bid to secure a multi-year deal.
Cleveland acquired Harden from the Clippers at the February trade deadline and sent fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland to Los Angeles.
Harden averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists in 26 regular-season games for the Cavaliers.
He has averages of 24.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 1,221 regular- season appearances (1,007 starts) with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2009-12), Houston Rockets (2012-2021), Brooklyn Nets (2021-22), Philadelphia 76ers (2022-23), Clippers (2023-26) and Cavaliers.
