There are a lot of people who give James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers a hard time.
True, some of the critiques are earned but some of them are way off base.
Regardless of what you think about Harden now, you cannot deny that he can still be a supremely talented and powerful player.
That was definitely true during his time with the Houston Rockets a few years ago.
James Harden 40-point games by team:
98 — Rockets
2 — Nets
1 — Thunder49% of his 40-point games were in 2 seasons. pic.twitter.com/eQ8xMZuEMi
— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 18, 2022
When you look at all of Harden’s 40-point games by the teams he’s played on, you see that he racked up 98 40-pointers when playing for the Rockets.
He did that twice with the Brooklyn Nets and just once with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That’s an impressive feat and an awful lot of huge games for The Beard.
Is he going to be able to even come close to that output with the 76ers?
Past His Prime?
For several seasons now, people have been saying that Harden is washed up and no longer capable of what he once was.
It’s true that his last few years have had mixed results from Harden but he might be turning things around.
Harden has been very vocal lately about getting in great shape and dedicating himself to finding victory with the 76ers.
He even took a massive pay cut to help the team acquire new talent and bolster their chances of making it far in the postseason.
Harden seems to be more driven but it remains to be seen if that will translate to the court when the new season starts.
If the 76ers are going to succeed, Harden will need to look and play like his older self.
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