James Harden is the most underrated player in the NBA right now. People consider him not a team player and a guy who forces his way out of good situations. He is also considered a playoff choker, and people are concerned about his fit with Russell Westbrook. These three are things people say to try and prove that Harden’s Clippers stint will be unsuccessful, but these are simply untrue. Before we start, I’d like to start with the fact that I am not a James Harden fan, nor am I a fan of any team he has ever played for. I am a Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat fan whose favorite players include LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, and Nikola Jokic. However, even I can acknowledge that Harden is wrongfully being vilified using these three points. Let’s debunk all these myths right now.
Harden has a reputation for forcing his way out of good situations, however none of the situations he forced himself out of were good ones and he was in the right every single time. He has demanded trades three times: in Houston, in Brooklyn, and Philadelphia, and each one was justified.
James Harden in Houston won one MVP and finished top-2 a total of four times. The best teammate he ever had was a past-his-prime Russell Westbrook, although many of those years he had only the notoriously cursed Chris Paul and Clint Capela to work with. The Rockets, specifically General Manager Daryl Morey, failed to build a team that even so much as made the Finals around one of the greatest players of this generation.
In an attempt to win his first championship, Harden forced himself to the Brooklyn Nets to team up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. However, this trio played only sixteen games together and shared the floor for a total of 32 minutes, which Harden had little control over, because Irving and Durant were repeatedly injured. Additionally, General Manager Sean Marks was not well-connected with his players, and they often clashed, as Kyrie Irving has been very open about. Harden suffered in silence as a Net and took all the blame, saving Sean Marks’ reputation until Kyrie opened up.
Harden wound up traded to the 76ers where he signed a contract well below the maximum with the understanding that he would get a long-term maximum deal the next summer. Harden proceeded to lead the league in assists and averaged 21 points per game for the team, yet General Manager Daryl Morey (again) failed James Harden by going back on his word and not offering James Harden the contract they had discussed, causing Harden to call out Morey for his lying and demand a trade once again. The coaches in Philly also had him, as Harden himself said, “on a leash” offensively, which is no way to treat a former MVP. Overall, Harden has had bad general managers and situations not fit for an MVP-level player throughout his career that caused him to demand trades, rightfully every time.
The second myth people use to drag down the name of James Harden is that he is a playoff choker. This is simply untrue and a simple statistical analysis can prove this. James Harden has averaged 22.8 points, 5.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 23 career elimination games, compared to a 24.7/5.6/7.0 average in career regular season games. These stats are already comparable, but we have yet to consider Harden’s opposition in these elimination games, nor his individual performances. Since 2016, James Harden has been guarded by some of the best defensive guards in basketball. In 2016, 2018, and 2019, in elimination games, Harden was playing shooting guard, matched up against by prime Klay Thompson, who was one of the best perimeter defenders in the league at the time. In these games, he scored 35, 32, and 35 games respectively. He scored In 2017 he was eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs, who had several great perimeter defenders on the roster such as Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Dejounte Murray, who held him to 10 in the elimination game. During this time, his best second option was Chris Paul, which explains why he struggled against these teams. In 2020 he faced Chris Paul in his first playoff elimination game, who is not only one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, but also had spent the past several years playing alongside Harden so was familiar with his game and likely how to stop it. Scoring just 17 points is understandable with these circumstances explained. Harden’s Rockets won this round and moved on to face the eventual champion Lakers. In this elimination matchup, Harden scored 30 points against elite perimeter defenders like Alex Caruso and Avery Bradley, but the superteam in LA was too much for him to beat alone. In 2021 Harden’s Nets were defeated by the eventual champion Bucks, who had All-Defensive player Jrue Holiday guarding him. He scored 22 points, although on poor efficiency. Harden’s past two seasons in Philadelphia have been ended by the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The Heat have an established defensive identity held up by perimeter players like Jimmy Butler along with a number of role players working for a spot in the rotation. The Celtics last season had Derrick White guarding Harden. These elite primary defenders held Harden, who was a second option behind Embiid in these years and was reportedly “on a leash,” to 11 and 9 points respectively. He still made an impact, however, tallying 9 and 7 assists in those two games. Harden has repeatedly been guarded by some of the best perimeter defenders in the league in elimination games, and he often still finds a way to make an impact.
The third concern people have about James Harden, specifically regarding his success as a Clipper, is his compatibility with Russell Westbrook. While they played in Oklahoma City they were teammates, but the pair was so young that we will focus on their Houston tenure. Harden averaged 33.4 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, and 7.3 assists per game, with 2 steals and 1 block. Westbrook averaged 27.3 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1.6 steals that year. Both were extremely successful, as was the team with a relatively similar center to Zubac in Clint Capela, going 44-28 in that shortened season. Both Harden and Westbrook have declined since then but not enough that this isn’t a fair comparison. Add Kawhi and Paul George to a 44-28 2020 Rockets team, which is essentially what the Clippers are doing, and you have simply a dynasty.
Overall, there is a lot of misinformation being spread to attempt to diminish James Harden and the expectations for his tenure as a Clipper. The Clippers are a clear top 2 team in the Western Conference and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themself or repeating what they have heard from the media.