Things couldn’t be going better for the Cleveland Cavaliers after acquiring James Harden at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Clippers. Harden has fit in seamlessly with what the team is trying to do. As a result, the Cavs’ offense has looked exceptional, they’ve rattled off three straight wins, and have a good chance at taking a wide-open Eastern Conference.

Harden could be the missing piece to a championship-caliber team.

At the same time, Harden has become the ultimate basketball mercenary. He’s one of the very best players of his generation, but is on the sixth team of his career and his fourth team since 2022.

Harden is hardly the only one who fits into this category. Kevin Durant, his former teammate with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Brooklyn Nets, is on his third team in four years.

Moving teams this often isn’t the exception. It’s become the norm, even for phenomenal players who are still playing at an exceptionally high level.

According to Harden, this is just the result of the NBA being a business.

“It’s basketball, the whole quote on quote loyalty thing is, I think it’s overrated,” Harden said before going exactly into what has led to this kind of environment.

“I think this is a business at the end of the day, and it’s a lot of money involved and a lot of decisions that have to be made. If a player isn’t producing, or if you don’t see him in your future, you know, if the front office, some of them have to do a job and want to keep their job. So they feel like they got to do what’s best keep their job, and they trade players.

“Or if a guy isn’t happy and he wants to be traded to somewhere else, then it’s a problem. It’s just so many different dynamics that go into it. It’s just a business at the end of the day. Not even just the NBA, but people that have normal jobs, have those same problems. It’s just not magnified.

For me, it’s always about, like, I don’t lose focus on trying to compete for a championship. And then financially, making sure that my family is taken care of, you know what I mean? Because I’m very smart, and I’ve sacrificed a lot financially, which I don’t get credit for that, that don’t get talked about, but I’m fulfilled, and I’m happy with it.

“But like, winning a championship, or at least having a chance to. And then financially getting paid, me being available and playing at the highest level for so long.”

It’s hard to argue with a lot of what Harden said. And, he’s seen both aspects of this dynamic better than most. He was traded away from Oklahoma City in his third season — from what could’ve been one of the greatest collections of talent ever assembled — before that group came close to reaching their potential. That perspective probably lends to Harden’s jaded view.

At the same time, it’s understandable that fans wouldn’t like an environment where they don’t know if their star player is going to stay with their favorite team for more than a few seasons.

“It’s a different age, I guess that’s it,” Donovan Mitchell said when asked the same question. “That’s just what it is, right? You adapt. I don’t know where it started. You adapt and figure things out. … I’m not mad. It’s one of those things where you adapt, and you try to go out there and do what you got to do.”

This is what the NBA is, and likely what it will be. The combination of the salary cap restrictions and player empowerment has created this environment. And it isn’t changing anytime soon.

“This is a business at the end of the day,” Harden said, “so I feel like players should ultimately do what’s best for them, and [the] front office does what’s best for them and their owner and their organization.

“So, there’s two sides of a story.”