{"id":830781,"date":"2026-08-30T11:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/830781\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:10:10","slug":"is-shai-gilgeous-alexander-a-greater-all-time-player-than-james-harden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/830781\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a greater all-time player than James Harden?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug. 29, 2026, 6:30 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

\"Nov<\/p>\n

Two of the more unconventional NBA superstars in recent memory, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and James Harden have a lot more in common than you think. They’re decorated all-time scorers who have mastered the dark arts of getting to the free-throw line at will.<\/p>\n

Both also took off in their second NBA homes following controversial trades \u2014 Gilgeous-Alexander on the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>; Harden on the Houston Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the peak of his power, Harden was a walking high-volume 30-point scorer. He wasn’t afraid of putting up MyCareer-esque shot attempts on an every-night basis. He was a one-man offense. The assist numbers back it up, too. Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander is much friendlier and more economical with his 30-point scoring game. He plays within the flow of the game. He can put up big scoring numbers while putting up Wilt-like efficiency numbers.<\/p>\n

Once a healthy rival, Gilgeous-Alexander has surpassed Harden in the all-time rankings. He’s captured two MVP trophies in a row, has averaged 30-plus points in four consecutive years and has a championship ring \u2014 all things that Harden has vied for his entire career, but has always fallen short.<\/p>\n

And even one of the Rockets’ favorite players said so. Vernon Maxwell begrudgingly conceded to the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast<\/a> that Gilgeous-Alexander is a greater all-time player than Harden. He appeared on the NBA podcast in Mar. 2026 to admit as much.<\/p>\n

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“Oh man, James, you know I love you and your mom and s–t. I\u2019m sorry, but I\u2019m going to go with SGA,” Maxwell said. “I\u2019m going to go with SGA. I love you and your mama, man. So I\u2019m sorry, but I’ve got to go with SGA. I\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m sorry.”<\/p>\n

You know it’s over when Maxwell can’t even back you up. The two-time NBA champion helped the Rockets capture the 1994-95 Larry O’Brien trophies as a 13-point scorer. Since then, he’s repped Houston. Even in his post-playing days. When he’s not trolling Utah Jazz fans online, he’s backing up his favorite NBA franchise.<\/p>\n

But even Maxwell knows you can’t jump the shark. As awesome as Harden is, Gilgeous-Alexander is just better. The career accolades speak for themselves. Within the blink of an eye, Gilgeous-Alexander went from an interesting prospect to being in the same sentences as guys like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. They’re all era-defining guards with rings and trophies.<\/p>\n

Both are future Hall-of-Famers in their own right. But I mean, c’mon \u2014 Gilgeous-Alexander is ahead of Harden in the all-time rankings. And that’s been the case for a couple of years now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 29, 2026, 6:30 p.m. CT Two of the more unconventional NBA superstars in recent memory, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[182817,355,348183,99,275656,275657,185888,184134,190544,351872,184136,184925,190538,198290,183293,198300,184128,182820],"class_list":["post-830781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-accessfree","tag-nba","tag-sourceokc-thunder-wire","tag-sports","tag-sstssportsnbathunder","tag-sstsnokc-thunder","tag-tagbasketball","tag-tagcelebrities-entertainment-news","tag-taghouston-rockets","tag-tagjames-harden","tag-taglocal-affiliate-arts-entertainment","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnba","tag-tagoklahoma-city-thunder","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagshai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}