Has James Harden ever been the best player in the league?

[KGtabake]

Νο. In his MVP season, LeBron was still the best.
After that KD and Giannis took over.

[Jailblazers7]

During Harden’s prime, would anyone really ever take him over Lebron, Kawhi, KD, Curry, or Giannis in a playoff series? Awards and stats are nice but unless you’re considered the top choice to make a championship run I find it hard to consider you the best player in the league.

[theoilslick]

The OP’s thread asks “What's the highest James Harden has ever ranked?” and references his 3 best seasons. He’s not asking “When was he the GOAT?”

For Harden’s 2017-18 MVP the Rockets won 65 and finished #1 in the WC. LeBron’s Cavs made the Finals but for the EC finished #4 with 50 wins.

[RamonSessions7]

Nope

[Saints14]

The results of this thread surprise me. I’ve been on RealGM since the start of Hardens run and I don’t remember anyone saying he was in the conversation of best player, in fact I think the general consensus was that Harden was closer to a borderline top 5 guy than 1. LeBron was unquestionably the best player during that stretch, and most people gave Curry and KD the benefit of the doubt despite putting up weaker stats playing together. Harden was more in the convo with Kawhi, and then Kawhi was tentatively considered the best after the Raptors won the title. I always felt Harden was a little underrated at the time, his playoff failures were held against him but his teams never quite matched up to the Warriors with KD

[Statlanta]

2019.

The Raptors were an ensemble unit and KD and Curry regressed.
LeBron didn't even make the playoffs.

[SUPERVILLAIN]

The results of this thread surprise me. I’ve been on RealGM since the start of Hardens run and I don’t remember anyone saying he was in the conversation of best player, in fact I think the general consensus was that Harden was closer to a borderline top 5 guy than 1. LeBron was unquestionably the best player during that stretch, and most people gave Curry and KD the benefit of the doubt despite putting up weaker stats playing together. Harden was more in the convo with Kawhi, and then Kawhi was tentatively considered the best after the Raptors won the title. I always felt Harden was a little underrated at the time, his playoff failures were held against him but his teams never quite matched up to the Warriors with KD

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[J_T]

Offensive player? Sure.

But never the best overall player.

I assume you have never considered KD to have been the best player in the league then? There are a lot of people that are saying that KD is the best player in the league right now and he is a neutral defender and has been a neutral defender for a while now. In fact Harden was better defender in his MVP season than KD is now. And of course better offensive player.

[art_tatum]

Was never better than Lebron curry and KD when he was on the rockets.
Bigger role? Sure but never a better player.

[iLLmatic860]

Maybe for a night or 2

[stormi]

averaged 36/7/5 in 2019/2020 with a TS% of .635 and led the league in winshares; lead the league in winshares the 3 years preceding that.

Top 3 greatest seasons of basketball I've ever witnessed.

Giannis winning that MVP was so..... mickey mouse. For lack of better adjective.

[Duffman100]

Offensive player? Sure.

But never the best overall player.

I assume you have never considered KD to have been the best player in the league then? There are a lot of people that are saying that KD is the best player in the league right now and he is a neutral defender and has been a neutral defender for a while now. In fact Harden was better defender in his MVP season than KD is now. And of course better offensive player.

KD at times has been a good defender. And like you said, neutral defender.

Harden is a god awful defender.

[stormi]

Offensive player? Sure.

But never the best overall player.

I assume you have never considered KD to have been the best player in the league then? There are a lot of people that are saying that KD is the best player in the league right now and he is a neutral defender and has been a neutral defender for a while now. In fact Harden was better defender in his MVP season than KD is now. And of course better offensive player.

KD at times has been a good defender. And like you said, neutral defender.

Harden is a god awful defender.

Meme. James Harden is an above average defender and was for many years in Houston. And he was used as a stopper in OKC who took the challenge against scoring stars nightly.

He got this rep because he was caught napping a few times and was on Shaqtin'. Also his effort sometimes is piss poor, this season for example he's been shockingly bad, but usually it's because he's exerting so much energy on the other end of the floor pounding the rock, that he dials back on defense.

He's never been a liability that you would attack though. There's a lot of guys in this league are.

[HardenandWilt]

easily

people like ben taylor just hate his style of play, so they dock him

didnt he break the per 100 possesions record for scoring. was averaging like 39.5ppg in 2020 till mike malone laid the blueprint in just leaving westbrook wide open and sending 3 over to hardens side

[Duffman100]

I assume you have never considered KD to have been the best player in the league then? There are a lot of people that are saying that KD is the best player in the league right now and he is a neutral defender and has been a neutral defender for a while now. In fact Harden was better defender in his MVP season than KD is now. And of course better offensive player.

KD at times has been a good defender. And like you said, neutral defender.

Harden is a god awful defender.

Meme. James Harden is an above average defender and was for many years in Houston. And he was used as a stopper in OKC who took the challenge against scoring stars nightly.

He got this rep because he was caught napping a few times and was on Shaqtin'. Also his effort sometimes is piss poor, this season for example he's been shockingly bad, but usually it's because he's exerting so much energy on the other end of the floor pounding the rock, that he dials back on defense.

He's never been a liability that you would attack though. There's a lot of guys in this league are.

Lol at a few times. There are a lot of good defenders when they try. The problem is some players don’t often try.

Read on Twitter

[stormi]

KD at times has been a good defender. And like you said, neutral defender.

Harden is a god awful defender.

Meme. James Harden is an above average defender and was for many years in Houston. And he was used as a stopper in OKC who took the challenge against scoring stars nightly.

He got this rep because he was caught napping a few times and was on Shaqtin'. Also his effort sometimes is piss poor, this season for example he's been shockingly bad, but usually it's because he's exerting so much energy on the other end of the floor pounding the rock, that he dials back on defense.

He's never been a liability that you would attack though. There's a lot of guys in this league are.

Lol at a few times. There are a lot of good defenders when they try. The problem is some players don’t often try.

Read on Twitter

I don't think this is a serious reflection of his defensive ability. This is more an indictment on his commitment to the Brooklyn Nets. James Harden again has never been a player that offenses would target or try and get switches on to exploit - and he's played on many strong teams in many meaningful situations. He isn't a bad defender by any means.

[Duffman100]

Meme. James Harden is an above average defender and was for many years in Houston. And he was used as a stopper in OKC who took the challenge against scoring stars nightly.

He got this rep because he was caught napping a few times and was on Shaqtin'. Also his effort sometimes is piss poor, this season for example he's been shockingly bad, but usually it's because he's exerting so much energy on the other end of the floor pounding the rock, that he dials back on defense.

He's never been a liability that you would attack though. There's a lot of guys in this league are.

Lol at a few times. There are a lot of good defenders when they try. The problem is some players don’t often try.

Read on Twitter

I don't think this is a serious reflection of his defensive ability. This is more an indictment on his commitment to the Brooklyn Nets. James Harden again has never been a player that offenses would target or try and get switches on to exploit - and he's played on many strong teams in many meaningful situations. He isn't a bad defender by any means.

And it wasn’t a reflection when there many videos of him in Houston?

When Harden tries, yes he can play defense.

Harden gaps all the time. It’s not just a meme.

[pr0wler]

Harden was arguably the best offensive player in the league for a multi year stretch, but when you factor in mediocre defense, he was never in consideration for #1 in the NBA.

[stormi]

Lol at a few times. There are a lot of good defenders when they try. The problem is some players don’t often try.

Read on Twitter

I don't think this is a serious reflection of his defensive ability. This is more an indictment on his commitment to the Brooklyn Nets. James Harden again has never been a player that offenses would target or try and get switches on to exploit - and he's played on many strong teams in many meaningful situations. He isn't a bad defender by any means.

And it wasn’t a reflection when there many videos of him in Houston?

When Harden tries, yes he can play defense.

Harden gaps all the time. It’s not just a meme.

Don't think he necessarily does. It's a pretty casual narrative actually. James Harden has been far from a bad defender throughout his illustrious career.

Again, you called him horrific. That's reserved for bigs that can't protect the paint and little guards that provide no deterrent for the offensive players they're tasked to shadow. I've seen guys like Redick and Seth Curry on my own team hounded possession after possession down the stretch of crucial playoff games. You cannot do that to James Harden because he has tremendous core strength, has extremely high basketball IQ on both sides of the ball and can move his feet. It's more of an outlier that he's been caught napping that's turned into a gag that he can't defend, but that's been far from the case for the course of his entire career.

[GSP]

Hell no

Prime Bron and Kd were always better. Steph has been better since 16 when healthy

then you have Kawhi, Cp3, Giannis, Jokic and prolly Luka better some seasons too