Sixers: Ranking every player on the roster after James Harden trade

Ranking every Sixers player — 2. James Harden

James Harden comes in second in our Ranking the Sixers project and it is probably the most solidified place of all the players on the roster. Joel Embiid is currently the best basketball player on planet Earth so naturally he is also the best basketball player on the Sixers. On the other hand, after Harden, there is a significant drop off to third place.

There was a time, specifically 2018 when Harden won league MVP, when he was overwhelmingly considered the best player in the world. That season was also the beginning of Harden’s three consecutive season reign as the NBA scoring champion. From 2018 – 2020 his points per game averages were 30.4, 36.1 and 34.3.

It was during the 2019 season where Harden was being discussed in the same sentence as Wilt Chamberlain when the topic of the greatest scorer in the history of basketball was brought up. Harden was quite literally unstoppable and at one point he had a streak of 32 consecutive games scoring 30 or more points in a game.

Think about how excited the Sixers fans have been during Embiid’s 25 point per game streak that just ended at 23 games and now let Harden’s accomplishment soak in. Anytime anyone is mentioned in the same sentence with Wilt, you know they have done something miraculous.

So now Harden is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and people seem to be sneezing at his statistics this season so far with the Nets: 22.5 points, 10.2 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game. First off, those numbers are impressive. They just don’t pop as much because the prior three seasons Harden was torching the league.

However, consider that James has not been happy the last year and a half. He has been in two tenuous situations, first with the Houston Rockets essentially entering rebuild mode and second with the Nets where he has had to carry a depleted roster that is missing Kevin Durant due to injury and Kyrie Irving in half the games due to his vaccination status. Neither situation set Harden up to succeed, but Philly has all the right pieces to help him in those endeavors.

As long as Harden meant what he said in his introductory press conference that this is Embiid’s team and he is here to help the players on this roster reach their maximum potential then things should be smooth sailing. I genuinely expect Harden to return to a 25+ point per game scorer and maintain the double-digit assist numbers that are so integral to helping others succeed.

— Jonathan Geib