The Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden trade became official and the 10-time NBA All-Star is set to make his debut against the New York Knicks on Monday night. He'll start alongside Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac in what is sure to be a game fit for Madison Square Garden.
Before the four stars debut together, however, there are some significant questions that need answers. The Clippers are in year five of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George's partnership as well as year four of Tyronn Lue's coaching tenure.
Before James Harden is set to make his debut against the Knicks, here are four burning questions the Clippers must answer in the aftermath of the James Harden trade.
How will it work?
The Clippers have four stars and the belief Tyronn Lue plans to stagger them two at a time in the middle of halves. Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard will all start the first and second halves for the Clippers, but there's no guarantee that quadruplet will also close games. Tyronn Lue usually takes a ‘hot-hand' approach to closing lineups and this will probably be no different.
The interesting thing will be seeing who is staggered with who. George has played very well alongside Westbrook, so it's easy to imagine those two being paired up while Harden and Leonard are the other star pairing. It also would not be surprising to see Lue play around with certain lineups and see if any combinations will yield surprisingly good results.
If you had to pick a pairing the Clippers will probably want to avoid, it'll be the Westbrook-Harden pairing, especially when one of Ivica Zubac or Mason Plumlee is on the floor. Despite being considered a non-shooter, Westbrook has gotten off to a solid shooting start this season, shooting 38.9 percent from three and 51.6 percent from the field. More importantly, Westbrook is shooting 5-of-13 on three-pointers with zero dribbles and 2-of-2 on three-pointers with one dribble. It remains to be seen if those numbers are sustainable, but if they are, it'll make a Westbrook-Harden lineup pairing much more practical.
For now, teams are daring Westbrook to shoot and living with the results.
Athleticism and age no longer a problem?
President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank said the team needed to get a little younger and more athletic after the Clippers' postseason. When the Clippers traded for KJ Martin and cut potential trade asset Eric Gordon, those were the reasons everyone pointed to. Factor in retaining (and planning to start Terance Mann) alongside Ivica Zubac (two of the younger players on the team), and the Clippers had something.
After this James Harden trade, they do get a bit younger by sending out Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, and Robert Covington, but they also had to trade all their power forwards, including the most athletic one in Martin, for a 34-year-old Harden.
Add Harden to 35-year old Russell Westbrook — arguably the most athletic player on this team — 33-year old Paul George, and 32-year old Kawhi Leonard, and the Clippers' core is quite old. Can they play the disruptive defense and up-tempo offense that Tyronn Lue wants them to?
The starpower is there. The surrounding pieces around the stars might need a little work.
Who will have to sacrifice the most?
Since the Clippers made the James Harden trade official, the terms, ‘sacrifice,' ‘process,' and, ‘there's only one basketball,' have been thrown around more than anything else. This partnership between Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard will require the utmost sacrifice and be a process to figure out.
The Clippers pulled off this trade just five games into the season, allowing them to figure things out over the next 77.
Still, if you had to pick one to sacrifice the most, it looks like it will probably be Westbrook. Westbrook and Harden have essentially played the same position the last few years helping to run their teams. Now with both on the same field, it'll be interesting to see who defers to the other, and vice versa.
Russell Westbrook has been his best with the ball in his hands pushing the ball in transition and setting teammates up, but he's also been really good as a cutter and finisher. Putting James Harden off the ball as a secondary ball-handler, however, does not utilize Harden to the best of his abilities: being an elite playmaker and scorer.
Something's got to give here.
How committed is James Harden?
Harden has requested three trades in three years and gotten the destination of his choice in every single request. Each scenario, whether it was with the Rockets, Nets, or Sixers, happened and there's no real point in exploring the past.
Instead, Tyronn Lue and the Clippers are focusing on the future with Harden.
“I just have confidence in the organization, I have confidence in our players, and I have confidence in my coaching staff,” Lue said when asked why he believes this will work after three trades in three years for Harden. “We're just looking at turning the page and starting a new chapter. Whatever happened in the past happened in the past and like I said, we're just happy and excited to have James and we want to move forward.”
Tyronn Lue has been really good at turning the page and starting a new chapter. We'll see just how committed Harden is to this team and his role when the team faces adversity during the season. Harden's ‘system' comments during his introductory press conference also turned some heads.
“When I'm in a leash, I'm not just shooting the basketball every time,” Harden explained. “I meant like I think the game and I'm a creator on the court, you know what I mean? So if I got a voice to where I can, ‘Hey, coach, I see this. What you think about this?’ Then it's like, okay. Somebody that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me, that I'm just not, I'm not a system player. I am a system.”
“So somebody that can have that dialogue with me and understand and move forward and figure out and make adjustments on the fly throughout the course of games, that's all I really care about. It's not about me scoring a basketball, scoring 34 points. I've done that already. So that's what I meant by that.”
The Clippers traded significant future assets in the form of draft picks to the 76ers in the Harden deal. Trading for Harden clearly goes beyond this season, one in which he is owed $35.6 million before becoming a free agent. The Clippers are hoping to keep him around for multiple years alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, so Harden's commitment to making this work is crucial.
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