James Harden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harden

James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is one of the NBA's most prolific scorers and has been called the best shooting guard in the NBA, as well as one of the top overall players in the league.

He played college basketball for the Arizona State Sun Devils, where he was named a consensus All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009. Harden was selected with the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2012, he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the Thunder and helped the team reach the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Miami Heat in five games.

Unhappy with his role playing behind team stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, he refused a contract extension offer from the Thunder, who traded him to the Houston Rockets before the 2012–13 season. In his first season with the team he set or matched several team records and was named to his first All-NBA Team (a third-team selection), as well as his first NBA All-Star team. Over the next seven and a half seasons with the team he would lead the league in scoring three times and assists once, and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2018. During his time in Houston, he was named to eight consecutive NBA All-Star teams and earned All-NBA Team honors seven times, including six first-team selections. In the beginning of the 2020–21 season, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a four-team trade. With the Nets, he was named to his ninth consecutive All-Star game.

Harden is a two-time member of the United States national team, winning gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2014 FIBA World Cup.