For the first time since 1997, the San Antonio Spurs are not going to the NBA playoffs. That news became official after Thursday afternoon’s wave of results at the league’s “bubble” complex near Orlando.
With the historic 22-year run now over, James Harden and the Houston Rockets now have the NBA’s longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances at eight straight years (2013 through 2020). It’s nowhere close to the incredible stretch by San Antonio that just concluded, but it’s the best among all NBA franchises at the moment.
The current eight-year run by the Rockets followed a three-season stretch from 2010 through 2012 in which they did not make the playoffs a single time. But after acquiring Harden in a trade from Oklahoma City in October 2012, they haven’t missed out a single time since.
This streak seems to coincide with a certain player in the @nba who has never missed the playoffs https://t.co/BitaLvtnIA
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) August 13, 2020
Harden, a future Hall of Famer, is clearly the biggest reason why. He’s made the Western Conference All-Star team in all eight of his seasons with the Rockets, and he’s finished in the top three of the league’s MVP voting on five separate occasions during those eight years (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020). He won the award in 2018.
[lawrence-related id=35885]
Now 30 years old, Harden is wrapping up another brilliant season in which he’s averaging 34.4 points, 7.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game. He has led the NBA in scoring for three straight seasons, and he’s just the third player in league history to average at least 34 points in two different seasons, joining Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.
Harden and the Rockets are still working on their first championship together, and their 2020 playoff run is set to begin on Monday or Tuesday with a first-round series against the Thunder, his original NBA team. But even without the ring, it has clearly been an extremely successful partnership for eight years and counting — with no end in sight.
[lawrence-related id=36166,35780]