James Harden has played with four different NBA teams and on every single one he’s played with a future Hall-of-Famer. Here is how they stack up.
Not many players in NBA History have a resume like James Harden. He is a 10-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection (five were First Team), a three-time scoring champion, two-time assist champion, the 2012 Sixth Man of the Year and 2018 NBA MVP.
Over the course of his luxurious career, Harden has played with four different teams. Harden played three seasons with the Thunder, then in the 2013 offseason was traded to the Rockets where he played for nine seasons, then at the start of the 2021 season was traded to the Nets where he played two seasons, and then halfway through his second season with the Nets he was traded to the 76ers where he’s played a season and half.
At every single destination, Harden has played with a Hall-of-Fame caliber player and yet Harden still hasn’t won a ring yet. This summer he requested a trade, away from reigning MVP Joel Embiid, with the Clippers (and two new future Hall-of-Fame teammates in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George) as his preferred destination.
The amount of talent he’s played with is simply staggering and so we’ve ranked the seven different Hall-of-Fame teammates Harden has played with based on the version of them Harden played with.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 7. Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony is one of the greatest players that this game has ever seen. He is a 10-time All-Star, 6-time All-NBA selection, the 2013 scoring champion and a member of the 75th anniversary team. Despite all that he has accomplished, Melo is the worst HOF teammate Harden has had.
This is because the version of Melo that played with James Harden wasn’t that good and out of the 10 games Melo played with the Rockets, he had only shared the court with Harden in seven of them.
In those 10 games for the Rockets, Melo averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, .5 assists on 41/33/68 splits. These were abysmal numbers for the future HOF at the time but it’s not entirely Melo’s fault because he was playing under Mike D’Antoni’s system. He needed Melo to be an uptempo floor-spacer but at that point, he was more of a mid-range specialist and half-court grinder. The fit wasn’t right which was clear after those 10 games and why he was waived.
When Melo was waived it had seemed like his career would be essentially over as many thought he wasn’t willing to accept the fact that he was old. Out of all the HOF teammates Harden played with, the version of Melo that he played with was without question the worst.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 6. Dwight Howard
Dwight Howard is slowly becoming one of the most underrated centers of all time because he is an eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA selection, five-time All-Defensive selection, five-time rebounding champion, two-time block champion, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, led the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009, and won a championship with the Lakers in 2020.
There was a five-year stretch, from 2008-2012, where Howard was the best center in the NBA but unfortunately for Harden, he did not get that version of Howard. After having back surgery and a very down year with the Lakers in 2013, Howard would go to the Rockets via a sign-in-trade.
He would then spend the next three seasons with the Rockets and Harden where he averaged 16 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks on 60 percent shooting from the floor. His first season with the Rockets in 2014, Howard would make the All-Star team and would be selected to 2nd team All-NBA.
Howard ranks sixth on the list more because of the team success he had with James Harden. His first two seasons the Rockets won 53 games in 2014 and 56 games in 2015. Then when 2016 came along the Rockets only won 41 games. In the postseason, the Rockets lost in the first round in 2014 and 2015 but they did make the Western Conference Finals in 2015.
The lack of total team success that Harden had with Dwight Howard and Howard being on the decline of his career because of back injury is why he lands so low.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 5. Chris Paul
Chris Paul is simply one of the greatest point guards of all time. He is a 12-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA selection, nine-time All-Defensive selection, six-time steal champion, five-time assist champion, the 2006 Rookie of the Year and a member of the 75th Anniversary team.
Despite all he has accomplished throughout his career, some of his worst seasons were with the Rockets. In the two seasons he played in Houston, Paul averaged 17.1 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 1.8 steals on 44/37/89 splits and in both seasons played 58 out of 82 games.
Despite Chris Paul not making an All-NBA or All-Star team while playing with James Harden, he is above Dwight Howard because he had better team success with James Harden. Paul’s first year with the Rockets was extremely good. He averaged 18.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.7 steals on 46/38/92 splits.
Being the extra ball handler alongside James Harden allowed him to be more of a scorer and the Rockets saw a huge jump in their total wins. They went from 55 wins in 2017 to a league-best 65 wins in 2018 when James Harden won the MVP. This would be enough to get the Rockets to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals and if it weren’t for Chris Paul getting hurt, they may have beaten the Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors.
Chris Paul gave James Harden his best chance to win a championship with the Rockets but, Harden has played with more talented players than the version of Chris Paul he played with.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 4. Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving invites controversy but his skills are undeniable. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection, the 2012 Rookie of the Year and a member of the 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Many may say that Kyrie isn’t a future Hall-of-Famer but, almost every player that is an eight-time All-Star makes the Hall eventually.
Even though James Harden and Kyrie had major differences, Irving is still the fourth-best teammate James Harden has had. In the two seasons they played together on the Nets, Irving averaged 27.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.4 steals on astonishing efficient shooting 49 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3 and 92 percent from the free throw line. Irving would also make the All-Star team and was selected to the 3rd All-NBA team.
In that first season together in 2021, Irving and Harden played well together. The Nets finished as the No. 2 seed in the East and looked like they were going to win the Championship. Then Harden got hit with a hamstring injury and Kyrie hurt his ankle against the Bucks. If the Nets were fully healthy they very well could have won it all.
Even though Harden and Irving played a total of 35 games together, Irving had accomplished just as much with him as the other guys on this list.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 3. Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is one of the most unique players in NBA history. He is a nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA selection, three-time assist champion, two-time scoring champion, a member of the 75th-anniversary team, the 2017 NBA MVP, and the thing he will be remembered for the most is averaging a triple-double four out of five seasons.
When it comes to being a teammate of James Harden, Russ had two different stints with Harden. The first was three seasons with the Thunder from 2010-2012. During that stretch, Russ averaged 20.3 points 4.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.6 steals on 44/30/82 splits. He was selected to the All-Star team and 2nd team All-NBA in 2011 and 2012.
In those three seasons, the Thunder had a record of 50-32 in 2010, losing in the first round to the Lakers, in 2011 the Thunder had a record of 55-27, losing to the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, and in the 2012 lockout season the Thunder finished first in the west with a record of 47-19 and lost to the Heat in the NBA Finals.
Then Harden and Russ spent one season together with the Rockets in 2020 where Russ averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7 assists on 47/26/75 splits and was selected to the All-Star team and 3rd team all NBA. In the shortened season the Rockets finished with a record of 44-28 and lost to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs.
So far on this list Russell Westbrook has put up the best numbers, individual accolades and team success with James Harden as his teammate. There are only two players to do better as Harden’s teammate.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 2. Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid is on his way to becoming one of the greatest centers to ever play the game of basketball. He is a six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection, three-time All-defensive selection, two-time scoring champion and the 2023 NBA MVP.
Embiid and Harden have only spent a season and a half together but in that time Joel Embiid is averaging 31.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.6 blocks on 52/35/84 splits. Embiid was selected to the All-Star team in 2022 and 2023, 2nd team All-NBA in 2022, 1st team All-NBA in 2023, and was the league MVP in 2023.
Harden and Embiid got together for the last 28 games of 2022 where they 19-9, finished as the No. 4 seed but lost to the Heat in the second round. Then last season they finished with a record of 54-28 and lost in the second round to the Celtics.
Even though Embiid is the only teammate of James Harden to be voted as the MVP while being a teammate he is still only the second-greatest teammate Harden has had. The biggest reason for that is they still haven’t even played two full seasons together. If Harden is to stay with the 76ers and Embiid continues to add to resume, then yes he could be number one but they don’t have the longevity together that would make Embiid Harden’s best Hall-of-Fame teammate.
Ranking James Harden Hall-of-Fame teammates: 1. Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is arguably one of the 10 greatest players to ever touch a basketball. In his 16-year career, he has been a 13-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, four-time scoring champion, the 2014 NBA MVP, a back-to-back champion and Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018.
Durant is also another teammate of Harden where they had two different stints together. The first was three seasons with the Thunder from 2010-2012. During that time Durant averaged 28.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.3 steals, 1 block on 48/37/88 splits. Durant was selected to the All-Star all three seasons, was the scoring champion all three seasons, was selected to 1st team All-NBA all three seasons, finished second in the MVP voting in 2010 and 2012, and finished fifth in the MVP voting in 2011.
The Thunder did really well in those three seasons finishing with 50 or more wins in 2010 and 2011 and finished with the best record in the Western Conference in the 2012 lockout season. The Thunder made it to the Ninals in 2012 but lost to LeBron James and the Heat.
The second stint that James Harden had with Kevin Durant was the two seasons played together on the Nets. Durant averaged 28.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.1 blocks on 53/41/90 splits. He was an All-Star both seasons and was 2nd team All-NBA in 2022.
Durant and Harden only got to finish one season together in Brooklyn as Harden was traded to the 76ers in 2022 but, if it weren’t for injury in the postseason there is a chance they could have gotten to play in the Finals again together.
The versions of Kevin Durant that James Harden got to play with his by far the best Hall-of-Fame teammate Harden has ever had. Durant put up great numbers and was consistently recognized as one of the top three players in the league. Durant and Harden also played five seasons together which is the longest out of all his HOF teammates.
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