The Cavaliers put together what felt like a statement victory on Tuesday, beating the Knicks for the first time this season, 109–94. Cleveland moved to 6–1 since the trade for James Harden, who had 20 points in the outing.
Now, the new Cavaliers star may be hampered moving forward.
Harden suffered a fracture in his right thumb during the win over New York, according to ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania. He was evaluated by a hand specialist, and on Wednesday afternoon Charania reported that he will try to play through the injury and will not undergo surgery.
Just in on NBA Today -- after hand specialist evaluation, Cavaliers star James Harden plans to play through his fractured right thumb: pic.twitter.com/xQz87Swecp
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 25, 2026
“I’ve been told he plans to play through that fracture in his right thumb moving forward,” Charania said on NBA Today. “He will be playing on. There will be a lot of managing of the pain through treatment over the next few days. ... He wants to play through this injury, he will be playing through this injury. Expect him to wear a wrap or a splint.”
Charania added that Harden may miss Cleveland’s game at the Bucks on Wednesday night to let the thumb injury “calm down,” but that he isn’t expected to miss significant time.
James Harden’s injury comes after coach Kenny Atkinson raved about the impact he’s made on the Cavaliers
During the peak of his powers, Harden was a ball-dominant lead guard who the Rockets built their entire roster around. In the years since, beginning with his time with the Nets alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, he’s molded his game to fit in alongside other star players. In Cleveland, the adjustment to playing with Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and the rest of coach Kenny Atkinson’s deep squad has been rapid, and Atkinson credits Harden with imbuing the team with confidence that it can compete with the top teams in the league.
“Listen, bringing James on has given us a renewed confidence, if that makes sense. We understand we're a better team,” Atkinson said after Tuesday’s win. "That spirit, that confidence for some strange reason, it makes you play harder, and compete harder, and compete harder defensively. And I felt that we were missing that edge, that belief, so I feel like we’re regaining that. And again, a lot of that has to do with who we added.”
Harden has played well alongside Mitchell, the Cavaliers’ lead guard, and has impressive early pick-and-roll chemistry with Allen, who has played some of the best basketball of his career in February.
Seven games is a small sample size, but Harden believes Cleveland has what it takes to become a truly elite team this year.
“We're good, but we got a few more notches to get to and with only what, 25 games left? But I think we can get there. Matter of fact, I know we can get there. And I think it's going to start defensively, because offensively—six guys in double figures. I can impact the game. I can have 20-something [points] I can have 30-something. Donovan can do the same thing, but we can also facilitate and got guys that can make shots and bigs that can help us with that. So, I think defensively is going to be the key. If we can find a way to like really hone in defensively and really get stops and limit teams to one shot, we're going to be very, very tough. And we have no other choice but to get there.”
The Cavaliers’ defense may continue moving forward if the injury causes Harden to take extra time off the court, but as a whole this could be a real setback for a team that has had just seven games and two practices in its current form if Harden is hampered by the injury on offense at all.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as James Harden Suffered Hand Injury During Cavaliers’ Win vs. Knicks.
