After losing Kevin Durant on February 13th due to a hamstring injury against the Golden State Warriors, the Nets’ offense hasn’t missed a beat thanks to the combined production of James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
Harden has displayed his durability by leading the Nets in minutes during the team’s current eight-game winning streak at 37 minutes per game. In fact, James Harden has contributed 24.9 PPG this season along with 11.4 APG despite not ranking in the top 25 in usage rate according to statmuse.com.
Usage rate is a percentage of plays a player was involved in that resulted in a team turnover, field goal attempt, or free throw attempt. Harden had a usage rate of 36.0 last season, but that has plummeted to 26.3 since he joined the Nets.
This means that James Harden is able to give the Nets 25+ buckets and 10+ dimes a game all while not even needing the ball all the time when he is on the court. James Harden no longer has to carry a team’s offense on his own, but he can still put up wild numbers without stalling the ball.
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