It's only three games into the 2021-22 season, but it's safe to say the foul-baiting technique that Brooklyn Nets star James Harden has mastered over the years is officially dead–or at least nearing absolute extinction.
Harden remains a 20-point scorer even though he is sharing the ball with Kevin Durant on the Nets, but the decrease in his free-throw production after the NBA implemented the rule changes to avoid foul-baiting is particularly noteworthy. According to Stat Muse, The Beard is just averaging 3.0 free-throw attempts per game–which is the lowest of his 13-year NBA career.
His free-throw attempts already decreased last season, but it went down by half this time around from his 7.3 average. During his time with the Houston Rockets, he averaged 10.4 free-throw attempts. He only had less than double-digit free throws once, which is during the 2013-14 season when he put up 9.1 attempts from the charity stripe.
It looks like James Harden will need more time to adjust from the new rules. On Sunday in the Nets' loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the veteran guard and former MVP attempted just one freebie. Yes, just ONE.
It's uncharacteristic of Harden for sure, but it also shows how the Nets star has been reliant on drawing fouls to accumulate points.
Now, Harden needs to show everyone the craftiness and basketball IQ that made him one of the NBA's premier scorers. He is still one of the best shooters in the NBA, and once he finds his rhythm and adjusts to the rules, he will be hard to stop.
Until he does, though, teams will exploit the new rule to limit his production