James Harden is one of only five players in NBA history who have averaged 35 or more points in a single season. Former NBA player Josh Powell had the privilege of playing alongside Harden on the Houston Rockets. He saw up close just how great a scorer The Beard truly is. Shockingly, he doesn’t believe Harden is the best scorer he has played with.
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Throughout Powell’s eight-year NBA career, he played alongside some talented athletes. Notably, he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. Kobe Bryant is in a league of his own as one of Powell’s teammates.
The five-time NBA champion isn’t the only great scorer Powell has shared the court with. In a recent interview with Scorer’s Society, Powell was asked a difficult question.
“Out of these four names, who were the better scorers? I’m going to throw the names out there: Monta Ellis, Joe Johnson, James Harden or Baron Davis. Like, if they had the green light their whole career, we’d be talking about them more” Sean Amos said.
The question immediately put Powell in deep thought. Most people would assume Harden would be a no-brainer answer. But he had a significantly greener light than the rest to score at will. In a sense, Powell believed the question to be unfair.
“I think it’s unfair because Baron has so much to his game. Injuries caught up to him. If Charlotte BD got to play for 15 years, that’d be a different conversation,” Powell said.
People forget how great a player Davis was with the Charlotte Hornets. The 6-foot-3 guard was one of the first prototypes of point guards who played above the rim and could score at will. He earned All-NBA honors and even finished top-10 in MVP voting one season while with the Hornets.
After Powell gave his flowers to Davis, he had to set the record straight when it came to James Harden. “James arguably had one of the best seasons we’ve ever seen in NBA history,” Powell said. Following that statement, he couldn’t call in Harden as his final answer. “But Monta, like how he was getting to it, he’s always been a bucket.”
Ellis was another undersized guard, but he never had the privilege of being the sure-fire No. 1 option. Regardless, he still averaged 25.5 points per game in the 2009-10 season. Despite Harden’s greatness, if Ellis had had the same green light, Powell believes the 6-foot-3 guard could have achieved some remarkable feats.
“I’m going to go with the underdog on this. I’m going to go with Monta,” Powell said.
Powell’s answer is surely a surprise, but it is more so a testament to how great players in the NBA truly are. Only other players who played alongside Monta could understand Powell’s perspective.
Fans, on the other hand, view Ellis as the guy the Warriors got rid of for Stephen Curry. Powell’s words remind everyone that Monta was a much better player than people give him credit for.
