The Cleveland Cavaliers are 6-6. Media and fans are disgruntled with the seemingly stagnant state of this year's ballclub. Star player Donovan Mitchell has struggled. Evan Mobley feels like a non-factor on offense, and worst of all, James Harden is going through his toughest stretch of play in his career.
Despite all of the negativity, the Cavaliers picked up a huge win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, and Harden led the way with 32 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the field and nailing five 3-pointers on seven tries.
Harden is dealing with a split personality issue 12 games into the season. His 39% from the field is last in the league, but his three-point percentage is 38.6%, which is the best of his career.
Among the 135 players with at least 50 two-point attempts in the 2026-27 regular season, Harden has the lowest two-point percentage. Other names on the list include rookies Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer. A 32-year-old Joel Embiid and Rui Hachimura. Not quite the company Harden wants to be in.
| # | Player | fg2 pct |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Harden | 0.40 |
| 2 | Rui Hachimura | 0.40 |
| 3 | Ryan Rollins | 0.41 |
| 4 | Cameron Boozer | 0.43 |
| 5 | Darryn Peterson | 0.44 |
| 6 | Cedric Coward | 0.44 |
| 7 | Joel Embiid | 0.44 |
| 8 | Naz Reid | 0.44 |
| 9 | Devin Vassell | 0.45 |
| 10 | Jerami Grant | 0.45 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-11-12. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. WITH s AS (SELECT player_id, SUM(fga)-SUM(fg3a) AS fg2a, (SUM(fgm)-SUM(fg3m))*1.0/(SUM(fga)-SUM(fg3a)) AS fg2_pct FROM player_game_stats WHERE season=2027 AND season_type='regular-season' GROUP BY player_id HAVING SUM(fga)-SUM(fg3a)>=50) SELECT p.canonical_name AS player, ROUND(s.fg2_pct,3) AS fg2_pct, s.fg2a AS two_pt_attempts FROM s JOIN players p USING(player_id) ORDER BY s.fg2_pct LIMIT 12
His two-point percentage this season sits below the 42% he managed to shoot in his rookie season all the way back in 2010, when he was a 21-year-old sixth man for Oklahoma City. Between 2013 and 2025, he never finished a season under 44%. Last season, he shot almost 50% from the field.
| # | Season | fg2 pct |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010 | 0.42 |
| 2 | 2011 | 0.51 |
| 3 | 2012 | 0.58 |
| 4 | 2013 | 0.48 |
| 5 | 2014 | 0.52 |
| 6 | 2015 | 0.48 |
| 7 | 2016 | 0.49 |
| 8 | 2017 | 0.53 |
| 9 | 2018 | 0.53 |
| 10 | 2019 | 0.53 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-11-12. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. SELECT season, ROUND((SUM(fgm)-SUM(fg3m))*1.0/(SUM(fga)-SUM(fg3a)),3) AS fg2_pct FROM player_game_stats WHERE player_id=201935 AND season_type='regular-season' GROUP BY season ORDER BY season
Pair that with the free-throw collapse: 5.87 free-throw attempts this season (FTA) per 36 against 11.6 in 2020. Getting to the basket and drawing fouls — a staple throughout his career - has thinned out along with the amount of two-pointers he shoots.
| # | Season | fta per36 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019 | 10.77 |
| 2 | 2020 | 11.60 |
| 3 | 2021 | 7.23 |
| 4 | 2022 | 7.97 |
| 5 | 2023 | 6.09 |
| 6 | 2024 | 5.01 |
| 7 | 2025 | 7.46 |
| 8 | 2026 | 7.74 |
| 9 | 2027 | 5.87 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-11-12. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. SELECT season, ROUND(SUM(fta)*36.0/SUM(minutes),2) AS fta_per36 FROM player_game_stats WHERE player_id=201935 AND season_type='regular-season' AND season IN (2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024,2025,2026,2027) GROUP BY season ORDER BY season
Yes, it is an extremely small sample size, but the 36% career shooter from deep is hanging around on the perimeter more often (given his age), and it's working for Cleveland right now.
His overall 39% looks ugly in the box score, but his true shooting percentage is 55.7%, which is his usual career number.
Harden was brought into Cleveland in February of last season in a trade that sent former first-round pick Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Whilst paired up with Mitchell in the backcourt, his role has completely shifted from bucket-getter to table-setter. He's second on the team in minutes behind Mitchell. He's third in scoring, but first on the Cavs in assists with 5.6 per game.
Although he leads the team, it's Harden's lowest average since 2012. From 2015 through 2026, his assists per game never dipped under 7.5, with 11.2 in 2016-17 being the most in his career.
| # | Player | Season | apg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | 2010 | 1.80 |
| 2 | — | 2011 | 2.10 |
| 3 | — | 2012 | 3.70 |
| 4 | — | 2027 | 5.60 |
| 5 | — | 2013 | 5.80 |
Methodology
Frozen rows from a deep-dig claim verified server-side on 2026-11-12. The SQL ran read-only in the dig sandbox against the canonical corpus and is recorded for review; it is never re-executed. SELECT season, COUNT(*) AS g, ROUND(AVG(ast),1) AS apg FROM player_game_stats WHERE player_id=201935 AND season_type='regular-season' GROUP BY season ORDER BY apg LIMIT 5
It was only one night, but Harden showed the old version of himself in flashes. It was his first 30-point regular-season game since March 19, 2026.
Since 1997, only 18 age-37-or-older seasons have carried more minutes than Harden's 32 minutes per game. The names above him are LeBron, Jordan, Durant and Malone.
If the Cavaliers want to stay as a contender, Harden will have to shake his shooting rut. His performance agaisnt the Knicks may lead to more efficient outings.
The Cavaliers travel to Miami to play the Heat on Friday.