James Harden will now add to his career stats in his hometown of L.A.
James Harden has been traded (at his request) for the third time in less than three years. And he now joins Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook on the LA Clippers.
Here are 15 numbers to know about the 34-year-old Harden:
Career numbers
1. Among active players, Harden ranks third in career points (24,693, 25th all-time) and fourth in career assists (7,015, 20th all-time).
2. Harden has a career free throw rate of 51.9 attempts per 100 shots from the field, eighth highest among 276 players (highest among guards) with at least 10,000 total field goal attempts. Charles Barkley (55.4 per 100) and Adrian Dantley (55.2 per 100) are the only other players shorter than 6-8 with at least 10,000 career field goal attempts and a free throw rate higher than 50 attempts per 100 shots from the field.
3. Harden also has the fifth-highest 3-point rate among those 276 players with at least 10,000 career field goal attempts, having taken 46% of his shots from 3-point range. New teammate Paul George has the ninth highest rate (41.4%) among that group.
4. Harden is one of two players in NBA history — LeBron James is the other — with at least 2,000 made 3-pointers and at least 7,000 made free throws.
Historical seasons
5. Harden has had six seasons with at least 200 made 3-pointers and 600 made free throws. All other players in NBA history have two: Gilbert Arenas in 2006-07 and Russell Westbrook in ’16-17.
6. Over the 10 years of player tracking, Harden has shot 39.6% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. But over the last five seasons, he’s attempted just 1.1 catch-and-shoot 3s per 36. He did attempt more catch-and-shoot 3s last season (44-for-106, 41.5%, 1.8 attempts per 36 minutes) than he did over the previous two seasons combined (37-for-105, 35.2%, 0.9 attempts per 36).
7. The Clippers now have the two players who’ve recorded the highest usage rates in the 27 seasons for which we have play-by-play data: Russell Westbrook (40.2% in 2016-17) and Harden (39.6% in 2018-19).
8. In the 19 years of Synergy tracking, Harden is the only player with at least 1,000 isolation possessions in a single season, totaling 1,278 in that high-usage ’18-19 season.
Slowing down
9. Harden has been the league’s slowest-moving player in three of the last four seasons. Last season, he moved at an average of 3.55 miles per hour last season, the slowest rate among 367 players who played at least 500 minutes.
10. Over the last two seasons, Harden has shot just 49.2% in the paint, down from 55.4% over the previous five seasons.
11. Harden attempted 80 mid-range shots last season after attempting a total of 90 over the previous three years.
12. Harden’s free throw rate last season (42.9 attempts per 100 shots from the field) was his lowest since his rookie season (41.5 per 100).
Trending toward passer
13. Harden recorded career-high marks for assist ratio (assists on 34.4% of his possessions) and assist/turnover ratio (3.17) last season.
14. Harden had 244 assists to Joel Embiid last season. That was the most assists from one player to a single teammate in the last six seasons.
15. Westbrook (41.4) and Harden (41.3) rank second and third (behind James – 44.4) in total points accounted for (via own points and assists) among players who’ve played at least 500 games in the 27-plus years for which we have play-by-play data.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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