With James Harden playing full-time point guard for the Houston Rockets this season, he instantly leapfrogged a lot of players on the “best point guard in the league” list. So where exactly does he sit on that list now? Second behind Stephen Curry? Or is he behind guys like Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul as well? According to Harden, he ranks behind no one, at any position. From Yahoo’s Michael Lee:
Now that Harden is setting up teammates better than anyone else and currently leads the league in assists, who is the league’s best player at his position?
“Best point guard or best player?” Harden responded when asked.
Either one.
“I am,” Harden told The Vertical.
Harden has always been a quasi-point guard. Now that he’s officially starting at the position, he is truly thriving. The four-time All-Star is averaging a league-high 12.7 assists to go along with 31.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Since arriving in Houston, Harden has been one to put up monstrous numbers. Now, he’s doing that to an even higher degree. Harden is stuffing stat sheets like no other player, and he’s doing it with a PER of 34.26. For reference, the highest PER ever recorded in a single season is 31.82 (Wilt Chamberlain). You may not agree that James Harden is the world’s best player. But there can be no denying that he’s playing well enough to at least be in the conversation.
