MVPs: 1. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 6. 2nd Team: 1. All Star: 9. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense Teams: 0.
#11 Career PPG.
Points Champ: 3. Assists Champ: 1.
Career Averages: 25 PPG/ 5 RPG/ 6 APG/ 1.6 SPG/ .5 BPG/ .527 eFG%/ .859 FT%.
Best Season: 36/ 7/ 7/ 2/ .7/ .541/ .879 (2018-19).
Postseason Averages: 23 PPG/ 5 RPG/ 6 APG/ 1.7 SPG/ .5 BPG/ .500 eFG%/ .865 FT%.
Best Postseason: 30/ 6/ 8/ 1.5/ .8/ .564/ .845 (2020).
Championships: 0. Runner-ups: 1 (#2 player).
Why he's below Chris Paul: Paul is a great defender; Harden is famously bad on defense. Harden holds the single season turnovers record, which takes some of the shine off his assists totals, especially when compared to Paul's totals. Additionally, Harden's playoff team success has been almost as poor as Paul's. One of the times he made the Western Conference Finals was with Chris Paul as a teammate, and the team blew a series lead when Paul went down with an injury. The Rockets did beat the Clippers the only time they met while Paul and Harden were opponents, but I have Paul rated as better individually that series. Harden's Finals appearance gives him an edge, but he was coming off the bench at that point in his career.
Why he's above the rest: James Harden is the best all-around offensive player of this era. He's a better scorer than LeBron and better passer than Curry. He may have the widest variety of perimeter moves of any player in league history. He can create a shot for himself no matter how you guard him, and if you try to double him, he can find the open man. He's averaged double digit assists twice in his career and is one of only 6 qualifying players to average 30 PPG in 3 consecutive seasons (all but 1 are ranked higher than Harden). He led the league in scoring all 3 years, making him one of only 6 players to lead the league in both PPG and APG during his career (all but 2 are ranked higher than Harden). His huge variety of offensive weapons has enabled him to blend into several great teams, whether he's providing bench scoring for the Thunder, running Mike D'Antoni's offense as a point guard or shooting guard, or becoming a pass-first guard for the Nets. He should continue to move up the list no matter what sort of team he ends up on.
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