For the past six months or so, the question of who is the better player, Dwyane Wade or James Harden, has been a frequent topic of conversation among basketball fans. They’re both legendary guards with rather different play styles, so they way any given person answers reflects a lot on how they see the game.
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Having these debates is fun even when it’s just with random strangers on the internet, but when the legends begin to weigh in, the dialogue reaches another level. Such was the case recently when Kevin Durant spoke at length about the Wade vs. Harden question on his teammate Fred VanVleet’s Unguarded podcast.
KD didn’t come out and say which player was better or which one ranks higher historically, but as a certified hooper, he had a lot to contribute. When VanVleet suggested that Wade’s style was more conducive to team success, he pushed back, but did so in an interesting way.
“I might have to disagree,” KD said. “‘Cause when D-Wade won that first championship, I think that’s why people are even having this argument about D-Wade and James, ’cause that championship that D-Wade won, and the style he won it in, was insane.”
“Everything was downhill, pick-and-roll to the cup, I’m scoring tonight. Dolo. Shaq was out there, but he was a second option. And he had shooters around him, and Posey and Antoine Walker, and he had backup point guards that could help him. Who that sound like? James Harden,” Durant explained.
In essence, KD is saying that Wade’s style isn’t necessarily more of a winning style than Harden’s, because when the former Heat star carried Miami to the NBA title in 2006, he did it by playing very much like ‘The Beard’ has throughout his career.
Wade took this as a big compliment, and he mentioned it on the most recent episode of his own podcast.
“That was my leading man moment,” he said.
“It’s really cool for me to always hear the way that hoopers, like everybody thinks that as hoopers, we all think the same, we all view the game the same, and we all see the game the same. We don’t, and so it’s always good for me to be able to hear hoopheads, hoop greats, talk, and you see the way they see the game,” he added, essentially thanking Durant.
“Shoutout to KD for talking about the ’06 run I had, because he right man, I was downhill. I’m gonna get a bucket on you, and I don’t care which way it come, it’s just gonna happen. And you in my way, I’m coming right there. That was the mentality,” the former NBA champion noted.
Wade’s ’06 Finals is still one of the greatest Finals performances of all time. In that six-game series win, he averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists, leading Miami back from an 0-2 deficit. He later went on to win two more rings as part of the Big 3 with LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
Harden’s never had a moment like Wade had in ’06, and with no rings to show for his prodigious talents, has often been criticized for not raising his game in the playoffs. In fairness, he often ran into the Warriors dynasty when he was at the peak of his powers, which proved to be a huge obstruction.
When he did make the Finals alongside KD and Russell Westbrook with the Thunder in 2012, he ran into a more experienced Heat team, led in part by Wade.
Durant played alongside Harden in OKC and Brooklyn, so he has real insight into what kind of player he is. He’s also such a true lover of the game that he can appreciate a player like Wade from afar and discuss his game with intelligence and nuance. That’s why his voice is always additive in any kind of discussion like this one.
