Although James Harden hasn’t won an NBA championship, it is impossible to skip over the 11-time All-Star when analyzing the league in the last 20 years. Harden made history throughout his ongoing illustrious 17-year career. He recently added another feather to his cap by moving into the top-10 scorers list.
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Harden surpassed former teammate Carmelo Anthony on December 6 in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The past few seasons have been a bit of a rollercoaster for Harden, but even in a struggling Clippers side, he continues to prove that he is more than a competent scorer.
To think about it, it shouldn’t even come as much of a surprise, since he has been doing this all of his career. During his tenure with the Houston Rockets, Harden led the NBA in scoring for three consecutive seasons. His most prolific season came in the 2018-19 campaign, where he averaged 36.1 points per game.
Of course, Harden is no longer that high-octane offensive machine he once was. However, he can still put the ball in the basket. At 36, he is averaging 25.8 points per game, which is his highest since the 2019-20 season.
In the Clippers’ recent matchup against their in-city rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, Harden went up against another member of the top-10 list, LeBron James. The former MVP was asked about what it was like joining James on the list, to which he provided quite the humble response.
“Don’t even say LeBron James in this conversation,” Harden said to the media. “That record, nobody is catching that.”
For context, LeBron currently sits atop the leaderboards with 42,406 points. He is now over 4000 points above Kareem-Abdul Jabbar in second place. The closest active player on the list is Kevin Durant at 31,155 points. As great as Durant is, it’ll be impossible for him to catch up to James.
Harden doesn’t concern himself with comparisons or any narratives surrounding that. His main attention and focus are on leading the Clippers to victories, which he was able to do against the Lakers.
“But just being back out there and allowing my teammates to help them win a game is important to me. It wasn’t pretty, but we got a win. So just gotta build momentum off of this,” Harden said.
That win improves the Clippers to 7-21 on the season. It is still a tough hill to climb to squeeze into a play-in spot. However, with Harden and Kawhi Leonard leading the way, anything is possible.
