James Harden

James Harden averaged 36.1 points per game in the 2018-19 season — the highest single-season scoring average since Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 in 1986-87 — and did it in a league that had deployed the most sophisticated defensive systems in the sport's history, with opponents who had specifically prepared for his offensive patterns for the previous five years. He led the Houston Rockets to 53 wins that season, was named to the All-NBA First Team, and finished second in MVP voting to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

His MVP year was the 2017-18 season: 30.4 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game with Houston. The statistical argument was straightforward — Harden was initiating nearly every Houston possession, creating shots for himself and teammates against prepared defenses at a volume and efficiency that required defensive resources from opponents who could not spend them elsewhere. His step-back three-pointer, which he could execute off a single dribble from 27 feet going either direction, required defenders to close out at a distance that left them vulnerable to drives.

His career three-point totals place him third all-time with more than 2,900 made threes. The category tells a partial story: Harden's value was always as a primary creator, not a shooter, and his assists numbers — averaging 8.6 per game for his career across years where he was the clear first option — describe a player who understood when to take his own shot and when the defense had conceded a better one.

He was drafted 3rd overall by Oklahoma City in 2009, won a championship with the Thunder in 2012 as a reserve, and was traded to Houston in 2012, where he became one of the two or three most offensively productive players in league history. He has since played for Brooklyn, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers, and Cleveland.