James Harden: Wilderness guide

James Harden is obviously past his prime, as well as an historic choke artist. I don't expect much playoff good to come from extending his contract.

But the Cavs are still in draft asset debt, thanks to the Mitchell trade. Even if they traded Mitchell for a huge haul this summer, the Cavs can't really afford to tank until they get control of their draft again.

Which brings me to Harden. If James Harden performs in the regular season next year at a level similar to the level that he played at in the regular season this year, then I could see the Cavs being at least passable regular season team.

This is clearly a suboptimal scenario, but the Cavs can't afford to bottom out, and lack the assets needed to sustain the current payroll.

And Harden, despite having zero trade value, could be a quasi-functional offensive engine for the next couple years, while the Cavs make their way through the wilderness of this upcoming rebuild/retooling/reload.