One of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history, James Harden was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 26, 1989.
He helped popularize the three-point shot, which completely changed the game. In 2018, Harden was crowned the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won three scoring titles.
He has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers in the past, but he is currently with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Monja Willis and James Harden, Sr. were Harden’s parents in Los Angeles, but his mother reared him most of the time. The family resided in Compton, California, and had a sister and a half-brother.
At first, Harden concentrated on baseball, pitching and playing first base. But while playing for a recreational team in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of ten, he fell in love with basketball.
As a junior and senior, Harden led Artesia High School in neighboring Lakewood, California, to consecutive state titles while averaging over 19 points per game.
Several prominent Pac-10 (later Pac-12) universities, including the University of Washington, the University of Arizona, and the University of California at Los Angeles, recruited Harden.
In the end, he committed to the Arizona State Sun Devils. He led the conference in steals and averaged 17.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game in his first season (2007–08). Harden made the Pac-10’s all-freshman team and first team.
The following season, Harden averaged 20.1 points and 4.2 assists per game, demonstrating even better play. He was a unanimous All-American and the Pac-10’s Player of the Year.
Harden announced his intention to enter the NBA draft following the Sun Devils’ defeat in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Oklahoma City Thunder selected Harden with the third overall choice in the NBA. Despite not starting his rookie campaign (2009–10), he averaged 9.9 points per game while playing 76 games off the bench.
Harden was selected to the All-Rookie second team at the end of the season. Over the following two seasons, he kept coming off the bench, and in 2011–12, he averaged nearly 17 points per game, 3.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds.
The Thunder lost to the Miami Heat in five games despite making it to the NBA Finals that season. Harden received the Sixth Man of the Year award from the NBA, which
recognizes the best bench player in the league. He also played on the American men’s basketball team, who took home a gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics.
Harden was gaining popularity at this time for both his performance and his thick beard, which came to define his appearance.
Harden turned down Oklahoma City’s offer of a four-year, $55 million contract extension during the offseason.
He was moved to the Houston Rockets just before the 2012–13 regular season began, and the Rockets promptly signed him to a five-year, $80 million deal extension.
Harden went from the bench to the starting lineup because he was expected to be a key member of the squad.
He paid off the Rockets’ risk by scoring 25.9 points per game and earning his first NBA All-Star selection.
Despite losing in the opening round, Houston qualified for the playoffs for the first time in four years that year. The 2014–15 season saw Harden score 27.4 points per game.
game and increased his assists to seven, placing him second in the MVP voting (behind Stephen Curry).
The Harden-led Rockets finished among the league’s top teams in the 2010s, despite their lack of postseason success.
Harden won his first MVP title in the 2017–18 campaign, scoring 30.4 points and dishing out 8.8 assists per game.
He also took home the NBA scoring title for the first time that season. In the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, he scored 36.1 and 34.3 points per game, respectively, continuing his recent hot streak. He led the league in scoring in both seasons.
Harden’s three-point shot, in which he steps back before releasing the ball, has contributed to some of his success.
In the sport, the step-back three-pointer has gained immense popularity and significantly boosted the quantity of three-pointers made and taken.
The Rockets had advanced to the postseason each season up until this point in Harden’s time there, but they had never gone past the Western Conference finals. As a result, Harden demanded a trade in 2020, and the Brooklyn Nets acquired him early the following year.
Harden continued to produce strong stats in a more restricted role, but he started to struggle with hamstring problems.
Despite having a squad full of elite players, including his Thunder teammate Kevin Durant, the Nets were unable to find playoff success, and Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in the middle of the 2021–22 season.
Joel Embiid, a dominant big man, was his partner there, and Harden had a successful 2022–2023 campaign. Despite missing his first All-Star squad after tenin his new role as a supporting actor.
Harden, however, asked for a trade in August 2023 following a playoff loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the Los Angeles Clippers acquired him in October.
The National Basketball League (established in 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (created in 1946) merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA), a professional basketball league in the United States, in 1949.
The American Basketball Association (ABA) collapsed in 1976, and four of its clubs joined the NBA.
The NBA was beset by losing teams, low attendance, dwindling TV ratings, and a lack of widespread appeal by the early 1980s.
Under the direction of David Stern, the NBA commissioner in 1984, the league quickly recovered and became a global entertainment conglomerate. Star players like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan in particular were emphasized by aggressive marketing.
Additional improvements included enlarged All-Star Game celebrations, lucrative broadcast rights for network and cable television, and league restrictions on player compensation.
