James Harden’s a paragon of longevity in the NBA and has been around long enough to know how quickly narratives can harden into labels. For many, championships define everything, and for Harden, crucial moments have taken his teams off that trajectory. Those moments surfaced yet again today…

“You’ve got that,” Harden told reporter Michael Scotto upon being asked about the Brooklyn Nets trio of him, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant as his career’s biggest what-if situation. “My whole career, you’ve got two what-if situations. From OKC to Chris Paul and his hamstring. I don’t even think about that. I’m living in the moment.”

Harden didn’t revisit the details, but anyone familiar with the guard’s career knows exactly what he’s referring to. In 2012, Harden made it to the NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder, alongside a formidable young core that included him, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant. Despite their loss, however, the future looked bright. Unfortunately, the next season, Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets due to a contract dispute.

This isn’t his first time referring back to his time in OKC, either. Back in 2024, during an appearance on the Earn Your Leisure podcast, Harden said:

“If the Thunder would’ve stayed together instead of being broken up over $4 million, we would’ve won two chips at least, at the minimum.”

The other moment was a bit more recent. In the 2017-2018 season, Harden and new teammate Chris Paul had assembled one of the most formidable offenses, managing to push the defending champion Golden State Warriors with Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, widely considered one of the best teams of all time, to a Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals.

However, in Game 5, which the Rockets won, Paul’s hamstring gave out. He ended up missing the next two games of the series, where the Rockets’ offense stalled in the deciding Game 7, and the Warriors kept their dynasty alive.

In the next season, Paul’s game was severely hampered, and the team was dismantled after a disappointing 2019 campaign. To this day, it remains the greatest hurdle the prime Warriors faced during their championship runs in 2017 and 2018.

James Harden acknowledges the ‘what-ifs’ of his career, but then moves on

What stood out about James Harden’s response is not what he said, but what he refused to do. No relitigation of the collapse in Brooklyn, no rehashing of missed opportunities in Houston, no bitterness about disputes in OKC.

By grouping these moments together, Harden framed them as inflection points for inward reflection rather than as scars or failures that defined him. That distinction matters a lot to someone who has often been discussed through the lens of what didn’t happen rather than what did.

The Brooklyn trio, in particular, has become the epitome of unrealized dominance. When healthy, the Nets were nearly unbeatable; a 13-3 record in the games all three played. However, only 16 games over nearly two seasons is a recipe for disaster. Harden didn’t dwell on it; he accepted the importance but declined to live inside it.

Top Stories

Unrivaled Starts to Resemble the WNBA for the Worst Possible Reason

LeBron James Shares Evidence Against NBA Ref That Draymond Green Wants Fired

Sophie Cunningham Signals Interest in Rejoining Caitlin Clark, Lexie Hull at Her Charity Event

Kelsey Plum Can’t Hide What She Thinks About Aliyah Boston After Making Unrivaled History

CFB Fans Trace Caitlin Clark’s ‘Voodoo’ Through Carson Beck’s Miami Decision, National Championship Game

That mindset aligns with Harden‘s current place in the league. At this stage of his career, he’s stopped chasing validation and instead adjusted his role, prioritizing his on-court availability and mentorship for the Los Angeles Clippers. The obsession with alternate histories doesn’t do him any favors.

For years, Harden has been the face of unfinished business, and it seems like he’s done entertaining those what-ifs.