He is very different from all the guys mentioned. Unique type of player to say the least though. Basketball is still a team sports, Elite Defense has to be played and the season is very long. If it's like single tennis, he probably has won all the Grand Slams and Masters individually.
Generational thing really. The predecessor bears the torch, and passes it down to the successor. Everyone is going to be caught by Father Time eventually. Example: The Dream, MJ , Clyde, Barkley.... - Shaq, Duncan, Nash - Kobe, KG, Dirk - DWade - Lebron, CP3 - Harden, Durant, Curry, WB - Kawhi (Kyrie) - AD - Doncic? - Zion? There you go. Lebron did the smart thing to stay in the East and when he couldn't win it, he created a superteam and had in mind that more superteams were coming. I recall the day when a 22 year old James Harden played in the Finals against a juggernaut with a 26 yr old Lebron at its head.
Why not??? He’ll be over 18k points by the end of this season. Not pass Melo? After this season he’ll need about 7k points to pass him up. And another 2k+ points to get into the top 10 over elvin Hayes. Obviously he has to stay healthy but I see no reason why harden can’t avg 25ppg ober the next 4 years to get very close to that and then he hangs around for another year or two maybe more in his year 15-17 season and avg 15-20ppg. He’d easily get into the top 10. Dude is only 29 years old. He’s got atleast 4 more years we’re he’ll be an elite scorer. Prob not what he is now but he’ll still get 23-27ppg which would get him awfully close to the top 10 in scoring going to his age 34 season.
Harden is in the midst of 1 of the greatest and most dominant primes in NBA history averages of 28, 6, and 8 over a 7 year span, and there’s no reason he can’t maintain those averages for another 3 or 4 years we’re talking about over a decade of MVP caliber play...if he had just 1 ring, his legacy would be secure along with CP3, D’antoni, and Morey...last year kills me, we were so close everyone is fawning over Zion, well Zion will have overcome the odds if he ever came close to approaching Harden’s level of prolonged dominance...that’s how great he is this is why I laugh when fools talk about trading him...a blessing fell right into our lap (praise be to Presti) Harden didn’t have his 1st 50 point game until the 14-15 season and is already tied with AI for the most 50 point games in NBA history with 11...in just 5 years Harden managed to tie AI and is 1 away from a tie with Lebron Harden is already 15th in NBA history for most 40 point games...he’s had at least 10 games of 40 or more points starting from 14-15, and he already has 5 this year
Maybe not today but I just think from a talent standpoint he’s the 3rd best and the number do back a lot of that up.
