James Harden is one of the older players in the league, wrapping up his 13th season in the NBA in 2021-22. Harden was drafted in 2009 alongside players like Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, DeMar DeRozan, Ricky Rubio, and others.
Harden has had arguably the second-best individual career out of the lot, with Curry being the undisputed best player from the draft class. His evolution over the course of the last 13 years has been great to see. Despite being an MVP winner, Harden has struggled with finding success with his team and is yet to win an NBA Championship.
Out of the top stars from the 2009 Draft, the only champions are Curry and Jrue Holiday. Harden’s career quest to win a ring is plain as day now, with Harden having orchestrated trades in consecutive years to move to better situations. However, all that maneuvering is yet to bring him a championship, something a fan on Twitter pointed out.
https://twitter.com/BACONBOYEE/status/1505527215554969610
Harden made his video game debut with NBA 2K10 on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Since then, Harden has been the cover athlete for the video game and has had multiple seasons as one of the highest-rated players in the game. But in real life, Harden hasn’t won a championship.
All this goes to show is how hard it is to win an NBA ring. Harden was the closest competitor in the Western Conference to the Golden State Warriors, one of the greatest teams ever assembled. His last year in Houston ended without a title after the 2020 Lakers stormed through the NBA Playoffs in the bubble.
Last season, Harden tried to play through injury to support the depleted Brooklyn Nets, as they were eliminated by the Milwaukee Bucks. This season he hopes to finally win a title by completing ‘The Process’ In Philadelphia. If he manages that, he will have the last laugh.
