James Harden gets honest about NBA career, heritage with mowers

La Clippers -Guard James Harden has several different chapters in his Hall of Fame NBA career.

Elected third overall in the NBA draft in 2009, Harden became a sixth man of the year in Oklahoma City. The deal was traded to Houston in 2012 with only seven career-NBA starters under his belt, where the Harden began a historic nine-year race that included three-like scoring titles and an MVP award.

Continued his career development showed the Harden undoubtedly showing its most polished form in 80 matches for Brooklyn Nets. An all-round Maestro, Harden was an average of 23/11/8 in Brooklyn, and maybe an NBA champion right now if teams were not cursed with all-time accidents.

At Philadelphia, Harden further adapted his game to look after the players around him, which led the NBA in assists for the second time in his career. Now in Los Angeles, Harden is in some ways a version of all its previous stops. But now with 15 years of experience and perspective that shapes this last chapter of his career.

The hardener, who spoke exclusively with Clippers at SI, opened up his NBA career, the legacy he is working to leave and how he wants people to understand him as a human being.

One of NBA’s biggest stars in the past decade, Harden has been active at the field with various partnerships and business companies. At this stage of his career, the 16-year-old veteran sees this as an opportunity to show who he really is.

Seen to play the lead role in a Super Bowl ad from 2025 for Pringles, Harden with colleague Mustached is celebrities Andy Reid and Nick Offerman for the “Call of the Mustaches” campaign. Whether starring in a Super Bowl advertising, annual China trips with Adidas or watching fans travel all over the world to see him play, Harden is humbled by the level of Superstardom Basketball has allowed him to achieve.

“Honestly, I’m so humbled by it,” Harden said. “I cherish it, and I want to make sure fans and people who come see me, or I encounter whether it’s a fan or partnership I want them to understand that James is a real human. I don’t ever want to put myself over anyone, whether it’s a fan, whether it’s a meeting I encounter. That’s my mindset. “

This is mindset Harden brought into his partnership with Pringles and would impress the team that sought him for this opportunity.

“The Pringles team, I really didn’t know them,” Harden added. “So when I had the opportunity to meet them and do all the commercial, I would impress them. Where they understand, James is one of the coolest if they look at me as a superstar that we ever encountered. Same thing as a fan. I just want to make sure I leave this influence on as many people as I can. “

In his core, it is that Harden has been his entire career. While cameras do not catch it every time, Harden is one of the league’s most fan-friendly players.

While he knows this about himself, he also knows that he has been one of NBA’s most criticized players since his climb to superstardom. This has often been basketball-related criticism that most stars are experiencing, but it has also included more personal attacks such as the two-minute Viral Rant A Dallas Mavericks analyst aimed at him last season.

Whether it is critics who are firmly at his stepback, a journey, or the more cruel attacks on his career and character, is the hardy of it all.

“It never bothered me,” said Harden about the criticism he faces throughout his career. “Like you don’t really see me going back and forth with a reporter or someone on TV or the internet. I just continue to chip away, put the work in, put the work in, put the work in, and that’s just how I am. “

Harden added, “It really doesn’t bother me. And then hopefully, in the end, people will move on to who I am and what my message really was. Which I think they are starting to understand it now. “

Fans who call Harden’s Stepback for a journey are not just an example that made sense to this article. It’s something he specifically mentioned when talking about his critics:

“Even when Stepback or the double stepback or whatever you call it put into play, it was so many people all over the world: ‘He is traveling. He travels. ‘Now you see it around the world six, seven years later. So it’s like, people may not be able to catch it right away, but eventually later down the road, they will catch on. That’s the kind of person I am. Which is unique. “

While it may have taken a longer time into his career than it should have, it seems that people are starting to catch who James Harden really is. Various stories are lasting about his work ethics and motivation, but as the 35-year-old guard quietly holds a undermanned Clippers team firmly in the Western Conference Playoff Mix, more people are taking on the leadership that has always been there.

Harden was named his 11th All-Star team last week and got the very deserved honor he missed two seasons ago.

“I’ve been on the other side where I led the league in assists and didn’t,” said the Harden before his choice. “So it would be an honor for me. I would love to be part of the team. “

Harden’s figures not only justified the selection, but his ability to lead Clippers for more than two months without Kawhi Leonard exceeded the more optimistic prohibitions for this team. Along the way, Harden has achieved some of NBA’s most exclusive milestones, including becoming second place on the three-point list of all time.

As he grows up in Los Angeles, Harden knows the story of his current organization. The rocks were far as the worst franchise in sports before Steve Ballmer’s arrival, and were synonymous with not only failure but embarrassment.

Understanding this is honoring not only rising NBA lists at all times, but does it in a Clippers jersey.

“It means a lot,” said the hardy of reaching several historic NBA milestones with Clippers. “I don’t know if there has been someone else that has come through this organization. I don’t mean to boast but I don’t think they have it. “

Clippers have got the Hall of Fame players come through their organization, and some reached significant milestones while they were there. But given his role on the team and the milestones he has reached in LA, Harden feels that he is in many ways standing alone in Clipper’s history. An honor, he appreciates a lot, and a responsibility he carries daily.

“And then to me, what goes on the back of my mind when I enter the gym every single day is to build culture,” said Harden. “Building something special. Because when I first travel and retire from being a rock, it can hopefully continue to lead to something special. “

What does it look like?

“Getting in, being a professional, working my ass every single day and being a leader,” added Harden. “Just all these things, all the great qualities that I bring. Hopefully I can shape it because the organization is already in the right direction. “

Harden wants to withdraw a cliff. He said it in his first season in LA, and that desire has only grown.

“Yes,” said Harden in January 2024, when asked if he wants to end his career with Clippers. “That was the whole point, man. I thought the same thing with the last team I was on. That’s why I sacrificed all these victims. I’m here at home, I want to be able to keep a core together for a few years … things are going well and I’m happy. “

Harden has undoubtedly helped raise the Clippers franchise, especially this season, but he knows the most important change happened in 2014.

“Obviously, Steve is taking over the team,” Harden said. “He has an arena. He got some excitement around the team. What honest, since Blake (Griffin) and Chris Paul and the Lob city era and the excitement with Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson, there has not really been much excitement about Clippers. So to bring that energy back to Clippers. That’s my thought process. “

Harden has done this on the field, but he has also done it off the field. Harden is heavily involved in the community throughout its NBA career, saying it is hitting differently now when he is at home in LA.

“It just hits differently,” said Harden. “I’ve always been very, very big in society. Of course Houston and then even some in Brooklyn and Philly. And then now, being from LA hits it differently. “

Los Angeles has a long way ahead to recover from the devastating fires that affected so many people, but Harden wants to help lead the reconstruction effort in the ways he can.

“We will come on top of it and find out ways to help the city because it is very necessary,” said Harden. “Whether it’s renovating courts to help the kids get out and hang and get out to these playgrounds or whatever. I’m willing to do that. I’m here for only a year, I want to get a lot of work to do, but we’re ready for the task. “

This is who James Harden is. As he continues to write this last chapter in his career with Clippers, he hopes people begin to understand it.

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