Clippers’ John Collins Calls James Harden Trade Rumors Shocking, Disappointing

James Harden is suddenly the subject of trade rumors with the NBA trade deadline a few days away. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The NBA trade deadline got a whole lot more interesting on Monday night as Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported the Clippers and Cavaliers were holding “advanced” talks on potentially trading James Harden for Darius Garland. It was a completely unexpected breaking news report that resulted in plenty of Harden trade chatter overnight and into Tuesday morning.

The Clippers just so happened to play on Monday night, hosting the 76ers at the Intuit Dome on the second night of a back-to-back. Harden was ruled out for personal reasons and Los Angeles lost, 128-113. After the game his star teammate, Kawhi Leonard, was asked about the report. He said he had no comment on the situation and trusted the front office to make the right decision.

Another Harden teammate offered up a stronger reaction. Forward John Collins, acquired by the Clippers over the offseason, spoke bluntly to reporters about the trade rumors. He called it “shocking.”

“It definitely was shocking,” Collins said. “Obviously I don’t know too much right now but just got to continue to see how it unfolds and go with it.”

Collins also acknowledged it would be a disappointment to see Harden go after he helped bring the team back from its brutal stretch to start the season.

“Hell yeah (it would be disappointing),” he said. “It would definitely be a shock for me and I feel like for the team and what we’ve been able to do, our season turned around. Definitely something different, something out of left field, but we’ll continue to handle it as it unfolds.”

John Collins on the James Harden trade reports:

“It was shocking.”

Is it disappointing?

“Hell ya. It would be a shock for me and for the team. And what we’ve been able to do. Our season turned around. Definitely something different. Out of left field.” pic.twitter.com/9WYANXqeu0

— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) February 3, 2026

The aforementioned turnaround is why the Harden trade report and subsequent rumors are so surprising. The Clippers were written off after a 6-21 start to a season in which they do not own their own first-round pick. But thanks to consistently elite play from Kawhi Leonard and the steady production of Harden Los Angeles is in the ninth seed of the Western Conference with a 23-26 record.

That doesn’t make the Clippers title contenders by any stretch of the imagination but given how the season began, hovering around .500 as the All-Star break nears is a huge win. It takes an enormous amount of work to dig out of that kind of hole and Collins seems to feel trading Harden would undermine all the work they’ve done. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was not the only one to hold such an opinion in the locker room, either.

Harden is averaging 25.4 points and 8.1 assists per game in his age-36 season. He’s also been extremely available, playing in 44 of L.A.’s 49 games. Through a certain lens one could see the argument for the Clippers to sell high on the star guard, especially for a young talent like Garland. But it would definitely make the team worse in the immediate given Garland’s injury problems this year and lack of consistent production on par with Harden’s, which makes it a tough sell to teammates like Collins.

A very interesting situation to keep an eye on as the deadline nears.

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