NBA Rumors: 5 best trade destinations for James Harden to win championship

No. 2 James Harden trade destination: Los Angeles Clippers

The Sixers would probably prefer to send Harden to the West. He grew up in Los Angeles and has explicitly named the Clippers as his preferred destination. There’s value in making sure a player actually wants to play for a team; LA is the only franchise that can operate with some level of confidence in Harden’s long-term commitment.

The Clippers, not unlike the Pelicans, would have to be wary of the collective injury concerns spread between Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden. But, in the end, they would employ Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden. That’s an undeniably talented trio and it would put butts in seats when the new arena opens a year from now.

Leonard is one of the best isolation scorers we’ve ever seen. PG is the ultimate secondary star, splashing 3s and attacking seams in the defense. Both have improved as on-ball creators — especially as creators for others — but neither is a classically trained point guard and the Clippers have struggled to balance the offense and find quality distributors in recent years.

Enter Harden, who would immediately give Ty Lue a steady hand at the steering wheel. Harden’s obviously much more than a steady hand too. He draws doubles on practically every drive and he can still uncork that patented step-back when the opportunity arises. He spent most of last season top-10 on MVP ladders. The postseason stumbles are a concern, but he had two 40-point games in the Boston series. He’s way better than public perception would lead you to believe.

The Clippers still have the firepower to win a championship at full strength. Harden would firmly move them into the Denver/Phoenix tier assuming all goes to plan.