James Harden is globally known for being one of the best scorers in NBA history. His level improved ever since he landed in Houston back in 2012 and from that moment, he turned into one of the best offensive players in the NBA for the past 20 or 30 years.
The Beard can score, assist, create opportunities for his team and in recent years he has also improved his defensive game. However, there’s one aspect of his career that gets often overlooked. Harden’s durability is something to admire but not everybody seems to be paying attention to that.
Fox Sports shared a graphic during the Orlando Magic-Brooklyn Nets live broadcasting last Friday, showing that Harden has actually played in 96% of possible games (868) since the 2009/10 NBA season. People tend to talk about LeBron James and his longevity but this stat shows that Harden has hardly ever missed an NBA game.
To make things worse, LeBron isn’t even the second one on this list. DeAndre Jordan is the second on the list, with the same percentage as Harden but with fewer games (861). Thaddeus Young is third with 851 (96%), while DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka close the top 5 with 850 (96%) and 857 (94%) games, respectively.
LeBron comes in 6th position with 833 games, enough for 93%. The NBA is full of interesting stats and this one is another sample of that, although it could be more surprising than expected. The Beard was dealing with a neck injury and he was thought to miss the Nets’ Tuesday win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
He got to work, dishing 17 assists and 27 points to lead his team to the 116-112 win. It looks like he’s having a second youth in Brooklyn and the Nets can’t be happier about it. In the absence of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, they know that Harden can do the job without any problems.
