James Harden and Allen Iverson can be compared in a number of ways. They both revolutionized NBA offense in various ways. They're both devastating scorers, with at least three scoring titles under each of their belts. They're dizzying array of dribble moves leaves defenders embarrassed and with their ankles broken on a nightly basis. And while Harden is still active and obviously not yet eligible, they're both worthy Hall of Famers without much argument.
But the comparisons aren't all positive. According to Howard Beck of SI.com, one veteran executive with an Eastern Conference team weighed in on the trade buzz surrounding James Harden, including the fact that Harden may have to sacrifice his world-revolves-around-me situation in Houston. And according to this executive and others around the association, he may not be willing to do so, bringing on an Iverson comparison that doesn't paint the former Sixers star in the most positive light.
"I don't think he (Harden) is (willing to sacrifice his role)," the executive said. "James is like Allen Iverson: He wants to win his way and put up historical numbers while he's winning. I would never question their desire to win, but they all want to win on their terms."
Iverson was always "the guy" in Philly from 1996 to 2006, averaging 28.1 points per game over that span in 697 games played. The biggest star the Sixers brought in during Iverson's stint was probably Chris Webber, in 2005, and his stay in Philly ended with Iverson's. 2005 Webber is a pretty significant step down from Iverson in terms of star power, just in case there was any doubt that this was Iverson's show year in and year out. And though he undoubtedly did everything in his power to bring a championship to Philly, he came up short in doing so, reaching only one Finals.
Harden, at this point, has failed to even reach the Finals in each of his eight seasonas a Rocket, but has completely dominated the league statistically.
Another executive, this one from the West, agreed with the first, saying that "it's hard for me to envision him playing any other way."
So if Harden is still in fact inevitably going to be traded, like SI's Chris Mannix suggested late in 2020 in the video at the top of this page, Beck thinks it's extremely important that teams ponder whether or not Harden will be willing to change his role.
It's no mystery that the Houston Rockets have operated everything around James Harden. Other important pieces, like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook, have come and gone with the goal of finding the perfect complement to Harden, and Daryl Morey attempted to build Harden's team from day one without a championship to show for.
But other teams won't quite abide by these rules. The 76ers have their foundation in Joel Embiid, who has to be seen as untradable following the Sixers' dominant start to the year and the role he has played. The Nets have seen the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving experiment produce some very nice results. Damian Lillard is not going to just accept the fact that he will play second fiddle to James Harden after he's worked hard to earn the label of a top-tier scorer in the NBA.
And what about the Celtics, who Harden added to his list of acceptable trade partners but who are now finding that Jaylen Brown may be an untouchable piece of the roster?
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Simply put, if Harden wants to go to a contender, that team's not going to just bend to his demands. Former Celtic Ray Allen, who had to sacrifice his role quite a bit when he came to Boston, was another part of Beck's exploratory dive on Harden's trade potential.
“It was it was very unnerving, because now I don’t have a rhythm,” Allen said of his ability to adjust to a new environment. “It was pissing me off because I was like, ‘You want me to win the game, or help win the game, but yet you’re not putting me in positions to do that.’ ”
“I believe he’s capable of doing it. You got to ask yourself: What do you truly want?”
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