There is no question Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden is headed to the Hall of Fame. He already has accomplished too much on his resume to not make the Hall.
However, there is one thing clearly missing: a championship.
Harden was unable to get it done with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets or the Brooklyn Nets. At age 32, the Sixers might be his final chance to get it done.
Not to say Harden doesn’t have plenty of great years ahead of him, but he is on the wrong side of 30 and has a short window. Now paired with Joel Embiid in a wide-open Eastern Conference, the time is now for Harden and the Sixers.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says Harden’s legacy is on the line during his time in Philadelphia:
James Harden’s legacy is on the line, and I don’t mean that as it pertains to specifically this season, but in Philadelphia, James Harden had better damn well help this team get to an NBA Finals or he will forever be scarred because when you consider the greatness of James Harden, the fact that this brother went eight straight years averaging no less than 25.5 points per game, that he went for five straight years after no less than 29 a game, that the brother is a former league MVP that spent three consecutive years averaging over 30, 30.4, 36.1 34.3, during s stretch in Houston, considering his marksmanship, his ability to get to the basket, his magistracy in drawing fouls and things of that nature, being compared as as one of the greatest offensive players to have ever played the game of basketball in line with Kevin Durant, with the Michael Jordan’s of the world and others. Nobody’s saying better, but they were talking about him being in that category as an offensive player to now go to Philadelphia, after forcing your way out of Houston, then Brooklyn and to have Joel Embiid as your teammate, there is no question and considering what Daryl Morey gave up to get you, there is no question.
Smith then recalled the roster that Allen Iverson took to the NBA Finals in 2001. If Iverson can get that team to at least the finals, then Harden should be able to do the same with this group:
We take all of that into consideration, along with the overall greatness that we know James Harden the have, particularly with him being in Brooklyn last year and reverting yo a true point guard where he’s dancing on folks and creating shots for other people and averaging damn near triple-double and being a top two candidate for the league MVP honors before he messed up his hamstring later on in the regular season last year. All of those things take into consideration for him to go to the team that AI once guided to the NBA finals with the likes of Eric Snow, a Tyrone Hill, a Dikembe Mutombo, a Aaron McKie, a George Lynch and guys like that, for you to be there with Joel Embiid, nothing less than an appearance in the NBA Finals will do.
Harden is set to make his debut for the Sixers on Friday when the team takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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