Former Vanderbilt basketball player traded in deal for James Harden
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
James Harden has been traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The player coming to L.A. is someone familiar to Vanderbilt fans. Per Charania, Darius Garland will head to the Clippers along with a Cleveland second-round draft pick.
Garland has played in just over half of Cleveland’s 51 games so far during the 2025-26 season while dealing with a right toe injury. He has been out of the lineup since January 14. In 26 games, he has averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 assists.
The Clippers are currently in a Play-In Tournament spot. L.A. is 23-26 and in ninth place in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Cavs are tied with the Toronto Raptors for fourth place in the East (30-21) and have won eight of their last 10 games.
The fifth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Garland’s time with Vandy was brief. In fact, he only played in five games for the Commodores during the 2018-19 season due to a meniscus injury. That didn’t stop him from being an eventual lottery pick for the Cavaliers.
Now, he’s headed to Los Angeles after spending his entire NBA career so far in Cleveland.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
