Cleveland Cavaliers star James Harden is off to a rough start to the 2026-27 NBA season. Head coach Kenny Atkinson said he isn’t panicking. At least not so soon into the schedule.
“Not [after] four or five games. That’s not it,” Atkinson said ahead of tipoff against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. “Depending on who the player is — some guys have earned trust and build trust. And with a younger guy maybe the leash is a little shorter. That’s a judgment call.”
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Harden, the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player and an 11-time All-Star, entered Wednesday’s matchup against the Knicks averaging just 15.3 points, 5.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds in just over 32 minutes a night in at age 37 in his 18th NBA season. He was shooting just 34.5% from the field and averaged 13.6 points over the five November games he appeared in entering The Garden on Wednesday.
“What are the causes? I always start with the causes. How can we help them?” Atkinson said. “Our spacing could be better. Yes. Our rebounding can be better. Yes. My job is to fix the structural stuff so we can put them in better positions.”
As Harden has gone, the Cavaliers have followed: They entered Wednesday matchup against the Knicks having lost four of their last five games. One of those losses came against a Charlotte Hornets team that had lost seven in a row and rested three of their starters. Another came against the Knicks.
Harden’s numbers would be the worst since his sophomore season and mark more than an eight-point decline in his year-over-year production. On a related note, Harden signed a three-year, $97 million deal in August with a player option on 2028-29 season, where he will be 39 earning $34 million.
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Atkinson was asked how a team with so many combined All-Star appearances — Donovan Mitchell has seven; Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have one apiece, and Harden’s 11 make 20 total — could play such poor basketball so early on.
“Over 82 games, it happens. It happens. I wish we could go 82-for-82. But it happens,” said Atkinson. “Every team I’ve been on, it happens where the best players didn’t meet those standards and they come back and they always talk about how to respond. But those games happen. They just do.”
The slow start has been tied to Atkinson’s job security, as it was during his time with his last championship contender. The Brooklyn Nets made their moves for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, then canned Atkinson for a rookie head coach in Steve Nash before truly making a championship push. Atkinson entered Wednesday’s matchup against the Knicks with a 116-48 regular-season record as Cavs head coach but a 13-14 record in the playoffs during the same span.
The Cavs won 64 games two seasons ago, then won 52 games last season and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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Atkinson said deviating from his offensive and defensive principles is not an option — again, at least not so early into the season.
“No, I think [we] double-down on our habits and our strengths. If this was Game 42 or 30, then maybe,” he said. “I think if you start going all over the place — it took us 30 games to figure it out last year. Thirty.
“And every team is different. This team is a different team. We’ve got four new players in the rotation, a new starter, so just think it’s gonna take time.”
The roster has turned over since the Knicks swept Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals in May. The Cavs, who had already traded Darius Garland, sent Max Strus to the Lakers and Dennis Schröder to Charlotte in a five-team trade in August that brought back Peyton Watson from Denver. Dean Wade left in free agency, and Mario Hezonja signed as a key addition. Mitchell signed a four-year, $273 million extension.
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Time will tell just how long Atkinson has to right the ship. He admitted the pressure is on ahead of tipoff on Wednesday.
“I think [the pressure is on] right now,” he said. “I keep saying to the guys, the league is more balanced, the league is better. So we can’t be overconfident. So we’re sending a message of awareness for that: If you wait until the big games, you won’t get to the big games. So I think they get that. We’ve gotta translate it to the court.
“It starts with our leadership. They’re composed, great poise, they don’t panic, if anything their coach is the guy that gets nervous. It’s not apathy at all. It’s just — you just can’t be overconfident in our talent. This is a play-hard league right now. Like play really really hard. We just gotta take it up a notch. We’ve shown we can do it. We’ve done it for two years. But we’ve gotta do it now.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
