Last night in Cleveland's 115-101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, James Harden scored 21 points to become the ninth player in NBA history to reach 29,000 career points.
Harden is the only player in NBA history with 29,000 points and 3,000 made three-pointers — a combination shared only with LeBron James. What those figures describe is not just a great scorer, but a player who fundamentally altered what scoring in the NBA looks like. Before Harden, nobody was shooting 12 threes a game, drawing 10 free throw attempts a night, and running pick-and-roll offense at that volume with that efficiency.
The Cavaliers version of Harden isn't the same player who averaged 36 points a season in 2019 but he's still a highly functional high-volume scorer who makes the floor spacing around Mitchell genuinely dangerous.
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