James Harden will begin his 17th season in the NBA when the LA Clippers play the Golden State Warriors on Friday. Yes, it has been a long journey in which his legacy, despite being part of All-Star and All-NBA teams, and winning an MVP award, remains complicated.
Advertisement
Harden is considered one of the greatest scorers the league has ever seen. In the regular season, he has averaged 24.1 points, 7.2 assists, and 5.6 rebounds per game. However, the Clippers star has often been accused of faltering during clutch moments.
With the Clippers’ loss to the Denver Nuggets in the postseason last campaign, Harden became one of the few greats of the game who have lost Game 7 in the playoffs for four different teams. His postseason record is poor, especially when we compare it to Harden’s regular-season stats that will cruise him into the Hall of Fame when he’s done playing. But that legacy could change, according to former Clippers star Paul Pierce.
“He really is a rockstar. He’s one of the most influential players that we don’t talk about,” Pierce said.
Having played against Harden, the former NBA champion noted that nobody ever wants to be on Harden’s highlight tapes. “I remember, I was with the Clippers and I am in front of Harden, like, ‘Oh, damn.’ I am like, ‘Hell naah!'” he recalled on Netflix’s Starting 5.
“If Harden was able to get the Clippers a chip, we are going to have some crazy conversations about where he stands as an all-time,” asserted Pierce.
Harden is currently being featured in Starting 5, the show that chronicles the on and off-court lives of basketball superstars as they try to win an NBA championship. Harden, of course, has never won one, having come close during his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012.
Since that Finals run, Harden has spent the majority of his career with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets deal, which was generational, also broke the OKC trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Harden, which most fans believed would have eventually won the league. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
Now the Clippers, despite the Kawhi Leonard scandal, have the potential to compete for the title again. And all eyes will again be on Harden and how he figures in head coach Tyronn Lue’s plans.
Last season, Harden played whatever role Lue asked of him and did it well in Leonard’s absence. But it simply wasn’t enough.
This season, both Harden and the Clippers will hope they have enough on the roster and in terms of luck to go all the way. As Harden himself pointed out, “I want to do something that I have never done and they have never done. And I still want to win a championship.”
Harden seems to realize that it is now or never for him. “Like, I want to win. I need to win,” the former MVP stressed. At 36, Harden will be hoping he can get it done this season.
