A former nine-year member of the Houston Rockets, James Harden is well-known for his incredible peak years, finishing top-five or better in MVP voting in six out of seven seasons between the 2013-14 season and the 2019-2020 campaign. Despite leading the league in scoring three times, his lone MVP season came during the 2017-18 campaign, where he averaged 30.4 points, 8.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks.
However, despite his tremendous career that continues today at age 36, the 11-time All-Star was snubbed on a recent ranking. Frank Urbina of HoopsHype listed the top-20 shooting guards of all-time earlier this week, putting Harden in fifth. While it'd be difficult to make a case for Harden against greats like Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant, he could certainly hold his own in debates against two of the players ranked ahead of him, Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade.
Beginning with Iverson, who was ranked No. 4, Harden tops him in every statistical category besides steals per game (2.2 to 1.5) and points per game (26.7 to 24). That said, Harden's scoring numbers may be even more impressive than Iverson's, having sustained such a mark for 300+ more career games and currently sitting ninth on the NBA's all-time scoring list. While Harden and Iverson are tied in both MVP awards and All-Star appearances, Harden has made twice as many First Team All-NBA selections.
The debate for the No. 3 spot against Wade gets much tougher to make, due to Wade's defensive prowess and winning pedigree. However, Wade never won an MVP award or even finished top-two in voting, something Harden did four times. Harden currently bests Wade in every statistical category besides blocks per game (0.8 to 0.6) and field goal percentage (48% to 43.9%). The two are currently tied in steals per game, averaging 1.5 apiece. Harden has much more All-NBA First Team selections, but of course, Dwyane Wade has experienced more playoff success, winning three championships and an NBA Finals MVP award.
While you can go either way between Wade and Harden, the stats prove that the former Rockets MVP is much closer to being the third-best shooting guard in NBA history as opposed to the fifth-best.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Former Rockets star James Harden snubbed in recent all-time list
