He Was Averaging 40

It’s 2018, and Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden is the best player in the NBAl his signature stepback is his ultimate weapon. He seems unstoppable, drawing comparisons to great shooters such as Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry and former shooting guard Ray Allen. More accurately, he is simply James Harden, a player with undeniable dominance and shooting ability. 

Harden was born in 1989 in Los Angeles and began playing basketball at an early age. He grew up idolizing legends such as shooting guard Kobe Bryant and center Shaquille O’Neal, bearing witness to their dominant reigns. Yet, despite his eventual greatness, Harden’s goal wasn’t to become a star, stating in an interview: “My dream was to be in the NBA. I wasn’t really focused on being a star player on a team. I just wanted to make it to the NBA.”

In high school and college, Harden quickly emerged as one of the most promising players of his class. He was incredible in college, playing for two years at Arizona State University and even leading the Pac-10 in scoring as a sophomore before declaring for the NBA draft.

From the day of the 2009 draft, Harden was already destined for greatness; he was selected as the third overall pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder. His first three years were underwhelming by the standards he later set, then averaging around 13 points per game. Much of this was due to his role on the team; he was brought in as a secondary option behind the star-studded cast of small forward Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook. It was only after his trade to the Houston Rockets that he became, as NBA analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley noted, “the most unguardable player ever.” Harden transformed his game, averaging 26 points per game and earning his first All-Star selection in his first season with the team. 

Over the next nine years, Harden was an All-Star every season—an elite feat he only shared with forward Lebron James. During this legendary run, Harden operated at mythical levels; from 2017 to 2020, he averaged nearly 33 points per game.

In the 2017-18 season, Harden became the NBA’s most valuable player after a historic campaign. He averaged 30.4 points and 8.8 assists per game, showcasing both his dominant scoring and playmaking ability. Harden set the record by scoring 30+ points in 32 consecutive games, beating Wilt Chamberlain’s record by seven games. In addition to leading the Rockets to a 65-17 record (the best in the league) Harden delivered some spectacular moments, including a 60-point triple-double against the Orlando Magic. However, he ultimately fell short in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Despite his efforts, including a 41-point game that gave the Rockets a 3-2 lead, the team squandered the advantage. Stephen Curry delivered heroics in Games 6 and 7, ending Harden’s championship pursuit.

Harden’s MVP season and six All-Star selections at this point barely set the stage for what most consider his career-defining run. Going into the 2018-19 season, expectations were high after a disappointing post-season exit. The Rockets were a formidable team, centered around Harden while also featuring center Clint Capela, point guard Chris Paul, and forward P.J. Tucker.

Harden averaged 36.1 points over 78 games, marking the second-highest scoring season ever, behind Michael Jordan’s 37-point average. He led the Rockets to a 53-29 record, despite  Chris Paul missing 24 games after suffering a hamstring injury. His crowning achievement came in January of 2019, when he averaged a ridiculous 43.6 points over 14 games. This is, in many ways, Harden’s legacy—forever immortalized by Stephen A. Smith’s famous call, “He’s averaging 40!”

Charles Barkley put it best when he called Harden “unguardable.” Yet what truly led Harden to such stardom was a move he perfected so completely that it became known as the “Harden Stepback.” It was an already flashy move—the stepback—performed twice in a row. At times, it looked as if Michael Jordan had taken the court. But it wasn’t just about style; the Harden Stepback was extremely effective. Harden’s most memorable display came against the Utah Jazz, when point guard Ricky Rubio guarded Harden from behind rather than facing him head-on. This demonstrated how dangerous Harden’s stepback was; defenses had to revolutionize their strategies to contain it. 

Throughout the league, the stepback became the move every player wanted to master. If Steph Curry revolutionized shooting with 30-foot three-pointers, then Harden did the same with the stepback. Of course, the move had existed before, but never had anyone used it with such effectiveness. Today, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Luka Dončić carries on Harden’s legacy, executing his own unique version of the stepback. 

But from 2020 onward, Harden’s career began to decline. Age played a role in his fall; he was now in his thirties, and the once dynamic and explosive guard that dominated the league was now slowly losing the spark that defined his peak. His struggles were deeply rooted in personal issues with leadership and accountability. This began with his trade away from the Rockets, which occurred due to a falling out between him and the front office. From then on, he struggled to find a team to call home, and one failed stint with the Brooklyn Nets was followed by another with the Philadelphia 76ers. In Brooklyn, he suffered from the same phenomena that plagued him in the beginning of his career: too many stars on one team. Alongside Durant and point guard Kyrie Irving, Harden was a part of a franchise that went down as one of the greatest superteam failures in NBA history. Now, he finds himself on a crowded Los Angeles Clippers roster where he is no longer the centerpiece, among a group of players who share two poor similarities: too-high age and too much selfishness.

Whether he will be able to regain his previous form is up for speculation, but we can at least hope for a stepback or two to remind us of Harden’s past glory.