(No) Chips On Their Shoulders: NBA stars with legacies to defend in the second round of the playoffs

James Harden, Houston Rockets

As far as legacy goes, James Harden remains the man with the most to prove. I omitted Kevin Durant from this list because as a multiple time Finals NBA MVP, he’s already iced his status as one of the best players to ever pick up a basketball, and maybe a top-3 pure scorer ever.

Perhaps we’d say the same of Harden had the two stayed together in Oklahoma all those years ago, and Westbrook too for that matter. But Harden was traded, and not only has he disappeared seemingly entirely at all the wrong moments, but he blew that 3-2 lead against the Warriors in one of the most baffling playoff chokes in recent memory.

Harden, with at least one MVP award (and if Giannis wins this year, multiple 2nd place finishes) is slotted in many minds as either the 4th or 5th best shooting guard of all time, behind Jordan, Kobe, Jerry West, and Wade. All of those players have at least one championship AND Finals MVP award. But only one of them is statistically his equivalent, and I’ll let you take a wild guess as to who. It doesn’t matter that the Warriors are stacked; at the level of greatness with which Harden is flirting, he has to overcome and deliver when it matters.

I can see three possible outcomes for him, all of which have tremendous implications.

He could lose to the Warriors and turn in one or more complete duds like he has in the past, and remain stuck trying to separate himself from the Reggie Miller, Clyde Drexler, and George Gervin tier.
He could go out against the Warriors guns blazing, averaging 28-35 points and still lose, and we’d at least respect that the Rockets played up to their potential and the Warriors just have too much talent for anyone to reasonably beat them 4-out-of-7 times, or…

He could defeat the Warriors, assumedly go on to win the championship, and vault right past West and Wade and start causing some very vitriolic arguments between Kobe stans and Harden stans on the internet.

There is, I suppose, the possibility that the Rockets beat the Warriors and lose in the third or fourth round, though I feel like that would have a similar enough reception to scenario 2 in that it wouldn’t hurt his legacy and we’d just respect it as a great run.

Regardless, of all the active players, only four have reasonable claims today as top-25 of all-time. Let’s just say with LeBron sitting out and Durant and Curry both comfortably tied to one of a handful of true dynasties, the burden is on James Harden to provide evidence that he truly is as good as the numbers indicate.

Honorable Mentions to Russel Westbrook, Paul George, LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, John Wall – whose legacies all took a hit by not making it to this point in the season. ¯_(ツ)_/¯