Former ESPN host Max Kellerman says the Cleveland Cavaliers made the same mistake trading for James Harden as Americans did in electing Donald Trump president.
"Bringing in James Harden to win a championship is like electing Donald Trump to fix your country," Kellerman said Wednesday on his "Game Over" podcast.
Commentator Max Kellerman watches a super middleweight bout on the undercard of the Canelo vs. Crawford event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sept. 13, 2025. (Chris Unger/TKO Worldwide LLC/Getty Images)
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The comparison came after the Cavaliers blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead Tuesday night against the New York Knicks. Following the collapse, Knicks coach Mike Brown openly admitted to game-planning around Harden's porous defense.
"There is no secret: We were attacking Harden," Brown told reporters after the game. "Sometimes you’ve got to do what the game dictates, and they were trying to do the same thing with Jalen (Brunson), so we said, ‘OK, we feel like we can play that game.’ We try not to play that game much, but we feel like we have a guy that we can play that game with in Jalen."
Max Kellerman hosts the Canelo vs. Crawford undercard press conference at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sept. 11, 2025. (Ed Mulholland/TKO Worldwide LLC)
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Kellerman comparing Harden to Trump in this light is hardly surprising.
During his time at ESPN, Kellerman was among the network’s most openly liberal commentators. In fact, one of the reasons Stephen A. Smith pushed to remove him from "First Take" was that Kellerman positioned himself even further to the left than even Smith on certain racial and political discussions.
At one point, former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens even appeared on "First Take" and told Smith that "Max was blacker" than he was. Sources tell OutKick that Smith and Kellerman's relationship never recovered from this segment, despite Owens causing the rift.
Kellerman’s disdain for Trump was also evident throughout the latter’s first term in office. In 2020, Kellerman argued on air that Trump voters in the South "seem to be susceptible to very low-quality information, easy to propagandize, and almost immune to facts."
Now working independently through platforms like Spotify and Netflix, Kellerman has even more freedom to blend politics and sports commentary.
Still, the Trump-Harden comparison feels forced.
New York Knicks' Jose Alvarado knocks the ball from Cleveland Cavaliers' James Harden during the first half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals on May 19, 2026, in New York. (Seth Wenig/AP)
Whatever one thinks about Trump politically, he has won the presidency twice. Harden, meanwhile, has spent much of his postseason career falling short in the biggest moments.
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As Brown acknowledged Tuesday night, opposing teams view Harden’s defense as such a liability that they actively build game plans around targeting him.
Harden and Kamala Harris, in terms of never winning the big one, might be a more accurate comparison.
Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick.
