Coming into the 2025-26 NBA season, the LA Clippers were looked as being a potential contender in the Western Conference due to their offseason roster additions. The Clippers have stumbled out of the gates a little bit at 3-5 in the early goings of the season, but they still have time to turn it around. And if they do, former NBA star Paul Pierce had some interesting words about where James Harden would be viewed all-time if he could win a championship for the Clippers.
As part of the Netflix series, ‘Starting Five,’ chronicling the 2024-25 season from the point of view of five NBA players, Paul Pierce acknowledged that James Harden is going to take a major bump in his all-time status if he can bring the Clippers their first ever NBA championship.
“He really is a rock star. He’s one of the most influential players we don’t talk about. Nobody wanted to be on Harden’s highlight tape,” Pierce said. “If Harden was able to get the Clippers a chip, we’re gonna have some crazy conversations about where he stands as like an all-timer.”
For a team that has never even been to the NBA Finals, simply getting the Clippers to that point might change some of the perception of Harden, let alone actually winning a title. But as their early record shows, the Clippers have some ways to go before they get back into the potential contender conversation.
Harden has appeared in seven of the Clippers’ eight games to this point, at a little over 33 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 23.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 47.1 percent shooting from the field, 41.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 93.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The No. 3 0verall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Harden is now in his 17th season in the NBA. This past year, Harden was selected to his 11th NBA All-Star appearance.
