James Harden is not the same player he was five years ago where he established himself as arguably the best offensive player in modern history by single-handedly carrying the Houston Rockets. Former Rockets' teammate Danuel House named his all-time top five on the 'Ur.Perspectives' Podcast and prominently featured Harden in it. He also explained why he'd choose Harden over other all-time players.
“Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, James Harden... The fifth guy for me would be KD."
"Why James gotta be in the top five? He had three n****s guard him every night. Name another NBA player that had three players guarding him night in and night out. I’ll wait. Alright. Don’t get underneath these comments and get to talking, because I will @ you and we’re gonna talk basketball… Name another player that had three players come after him, bro.”
No matter the offensive load James Harden carried for the Rockets in his prime, saying that he's a better all-time player than the likes of Tim Duncan , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Shaquille O'Neal , Larry Bird , Magic Johnson , Stephen Curry , and heaps more players, is a laughable fact.
We are coming off a season where Luka Doncic broke Harden's record for most point contributions in a season through scoring and assisting while leading his Mavericks to the Finals whereas Harden cannot claim to have done the same.
Aesthetically, Harden's game from 2017 to 2020 was almost unbeatable offensively. It guaranteed regular-season success for the Rockets, but we never saw him maintain that same scoring pace in the postseason. All-time greats often level up in the Playoffs, something Harden has seldom done in his career.
House is a former NBA player who's clearly biased toward Harden because they've been teammates multiple times before. But to be biased enough to call Harden an all-time top-five player and try to discredit anyone disagreeing with the take by saying they haven't played basketball at his level is weak because he knows Harden won't even be a top 10 or top 15 player of all time, let alone top five.
DeMar DeRozan Gave Prime James Harden His Flowers
It's unfair to set Harden up in the way House did by calling him a top-five player. Everyone with an objective mind knows that isn't true, but that doesn't take away from the incredible basketball Harden played over three years. He impressed many of his contemporaries, with DeMar DeRozan recently giving Harden his flowers for his dominant run to end the 2010s .
"The run James had was... That ain't even a video game, that was some Space Jam sh*t. If you didn’t watch the game, you just knew when you checked the box score it was going be something f*cking crazy… He did that sh*t and it looked like it was no effort... That run James had bro was the most incredible sh*t I know I've ever seen. It was crazy.”
Harden averaged 31.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 8.5 assists over five seasons from 2016-17 to 2019-20, dominating the NBA. Harden seemed to have become a perennial MVP runner-up until he won the first and only MVP of his career for the 2017-18 season.
His best season in this run came in 2018-19, as Harden won the scoring title dominantly by averaging 36.1 points, though it still led to a Playoff exit at the hands of the Golden State Warriors for Harden.
Related: Tracy McGrady Explains Why James Harden Would Beat Dwyane Wade 1-On-1 In Their Primes
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