James Harden trade talks ‘shocking,’ but the Clippers aim to stay of sound mind

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The NBA’s trade deadline is rife with uncertainty. Rumors fly. Names are named.

When a player gets to the league, this is the deal. It’s a time that just has to be dealt with. A week that comes around once a year that players and coaches dread.

Even with that in mind, the LA Clippers were hit with a bombshell Monday night.

With a little less than three days remaining until Thursday afternoon’s deadline. the Clippers were in the midst of losing to the Philadelphia 76ers when news surfaced that they and the Cleveland Cavaliers are discussing a deal involving star point guard James Harden.

In the locker room following Monday’s loss, players expressed surprise, even shock. Clippers head coach Ty Lue looked exasperated that he had to answer questions about his point guard. Star forward Kawhi Leonard answered one question about his longtime friend and then shifted his discussion with the media to basketball.

A locker room that had been so tight-knit in the last month seemed quiet.

“Of course I’m surprised to hear the news,” Leonard said. “But he’s got to do what is best for him. I respect his decision, or whoever’s decision it was, and that’s it. At the end of the day, he’s still going to be my boy. He’s still going to be my brother.”

Trade requests and demands happen all the time. This has been routine with Harden. He’s with the Clippers because he demanded a trade from the 76ers. He became a member of the Brooklyn Nets because he demanded a trade from the Houston Rockets.

But this circumstance is unique, even for him. The Clippers have been maybe the best team in the NBA over the last several weeks. Coming into Monday, they were 17-4 over their previous 21 games. Harden, even at 36, has been one of the very best point guards in the league. He’s averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. He’s one of the league’s best pick-and-roll players, and he remains durable, playing in 44 games this season, although he didn’t play Sunday night in Phoenix and sat out Monday night’s game for what was termed personal reasons. A source close to Harden told our Sam Amick that the absences were not because of the trade speculation.

It seems like an odd time for someone to ask out of such an improving situation. The Clippers began the year losing 21 of their first 27 games, but have stabilized themselves. On Monday, they looked oddly disinterested against the Sixers, particularly in the first quarter.

They were playing the second half of a back-to-back, but they played with a malaise that now seems explainable thanks to the Harden news. They didn’t defend with their typical ferocity. They looked slow offensively. They looked like their minds were elsewhere.

“It was definitely shocking to me,” Clippers forward John Collins said. “But I think we’ll just have to continue to see how it all unfolds and then just go with it. Yeah, it would be a shock for me and for the team to see him go; this is definitely something out of left field. But we’ll just have to sit back and wait to see what happens.”

If the Clippers lose Harden, it will have potentially far-reaching ramifications. Harden’s ability to run pick-and-roll unlocked Ivica Zubac and made him one of the most effective bigs in the Western Conference, and his scoring ability takes pressure off Leonard, allowing him to play more without the basketball and the Clippers to keep his usage down.

The Clippers, perhaps most, would miss Harden’s availability. He is an innings eater who isn’t easy to replicate. He shows up in the regular season and plays basketball. That’s a valuable skill, in and of itself.

Maybe most importantly, the Clippers were hoping for a quiet trade deadline — or at least that’s what Lue had previously told reporters. This has been a season in which the franchise has had to deal with significant unrest, on and off the floor. Earlier in the year, the team sent veteran backup point guard Chris Paul home. There has also been the controversy surrounding accusations that Leonard and the Clippers have made efforts to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap.

The last thing the Clippers need is another bump in the proverbial road.

The Clippers can trade Harden, but they won’t likely find a replacement that’s as good a player as he is. This is a team that’s long in the tooth with a sense of urgency to win right away. Losing Harden goes a long way toward preventing that.

Or, the Clippers can keep Harden and risk him becoming a malcontent, something that has happened at other stops when he hasn’t gotten his way.

A team that looked to be cruising is now at a fork in the road, and the wrong decision could have a crippling effect.

“We have to go out and be professionals and do our jobs,” Lue said. “James means a lot to our team. You guys have seen it for the last three years. He means a lot.”