It’s ranking time in the NBA offseason as everybody gives their thoughts and opinions on who the best player in the world is and debates on where each player ranks in the history of this great game of basketball.
Former Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden is one of the best players to ever play this game and he showed off his skill in his 1.5 seasons in the City of Brotherly Love. He averaged 21.0 points, 10.6 assists, and 6.4 rebounds per game while leading the league in assists in the 2022-23 season playing next to MVP Joel Embiid.
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The Beard was then sent to the Los Angeles Clippers early in the 2023-24 season as he looked for greener pastures.
Bleacher Report ranked their top 100 players of all-time and Harden came in ranked No. 34 on the list:
Harden’s best years came with the Houston Rockets, where he led the league in scoring three straight times from 2017-18 to 2019-20 and concluded a run during which he also led the NBA in free-throw attempts per game in seven of eight seasons.
One of the most devastating pick-and-roll forces the game has ever seen, Harden also developed into an unstoppable isolation threat. Elite quickness, strength and craft made it impossible to stay in front of Harden, and then he perfected a step-back three-pointer so deadly that opponents actually preferred to play defense behind him.
An extremely heliocentric star who has led the league in usage rate twice, never consistently defended and couldn’t lead his team to a title, Harden has more than his share of detractors.
Harden’s time with the Sixers was short, but it was memorable as he was the one who led an efficient offense and made life easy for Embiid on that end of the floor. He was also influential for Tyrese Maxey as he earned his first All-Star appearance in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Former 76ers star James Harden comes in ranked No. 34 on all-time list