I believe Lebron won a championship at age 35. But the issue is not winning a title - Harden is many, many steps away from that. It's about showing up and being able to be your level of great at age 36 and not be shell of your regular-season self. The Cavs didn't need 36 yr old Harden to be 26 yr old Harden. They needed him to be 36 yr old regular season Harden. This was true in past years too. The issue is not his age - they just need him to not shrink. Lebron at age 41 was great in this year's playoffs - let alone the last several. People like Karl Malone at this age were still dominant. All the teams except for 1 lose every year - but the stars aren't the obvious culprit. It's about doing your part, not about having to win - endless great players never won a title and I don't fault Harden for that. But Malone won the MVP at age 35 and averaged 25/10 at age 36. In the playoffs of that season, he averaged 27/9 on 52% shooting. Lebron this year averaged 21/6/7 during the regular season and 23/6/7 during the playoffs. Harden this year averaged 23/8 in the regular season and 19/5 in the playoffs, plus a bunch of extra turnovers. And his worst games come in the biggest moments. Malone had 27/11/6 in the final game of his season. Lebron had 24/12 in the final game they lost this season. Star players shouldn't shrink in the biggest moments - they step up, whether their teams win or lose. Harden does not.
Lebron was 31 his last title season, bubble nonsense wasn’t real basketball. Malone’s entire thing was shrinking in the big moments, and even that ONE example is a guy who was younger and failed and was 30 years ago. Lebron also is different historically, i don’t put harden in that group.
Nah Harden actually DID work on his game. He'd come back every season with a new move. But when he had to perform that new move in the playoffs he choked due to probably a combination of being hungover and fear of the brightest lights. The 2012 WCF Harden that surgically broke down that Spurs defense by himself was the fluke, not the future norm for him in the playoffs.
https://hoopswire.com/cavaliers-cavs-james-harden-nba-committment/# “I don’t have no pride,” Harden added. Well that’s for damn sure. How about quit being a bum ass loser and coming off the bench?
