Remember when The Truth was in L.A. for five minutes? Just like no one counts Wizards Jordan, there’s not much to remember from Paul Pierce’s Clippers stint. But now, one of his biggest rivals from that era is suiting up for the same team- and unlike Pierce back then, James Harden isn’t anywhere near the twilight. He’s still a cliffhanger with a beard, a walking question mark who remains a title contender in his own right. It makes him the perfect subject for Season 2 of Starting 5.

The Netflix series brought Pierce into the fold to talk about The Beard. Harden entered the league a year after Pierce won his championship, missing out on facing Boston’s prime scorer. By the time Harden was climbing the ranks in Houston, Pierce was grinding his way up the all-time scoring list with the Nets and hitting buzzer-beaters in Washington.

But when he landed with the Clippers, Pierce was more of a veteran presence behind the Lob City stars. Across the court, Harden had turned the Rockets into a full-blown offensive machine. Not surprisingly, The Beard made The Truth quake in his Nikes every time Houston and L.A. clashed.

“He really is a rockstar. He’s one of the most influential players that we don’t talk about,” Pierce said on Starting 5. He claimed no one wanted to be on Harden’s highlight tapes. Once, Harden’s overwhelming personality even terrified him.

“I remember, I was with the Clippers and I am in front of Harden, like, ‘Oh, damn.’ I am like, ‘Hell naah!’” He, nor the archive footage, clarify which game he’s referring to. Maybe it was the game in 2016, which the Clippers won 122-106 off the back of JJ Redick’s shooting and where Harden had 33 points. Pierce had returned from a toe injury in this game to play 18 minutes and score 7 points.

It could also be the 2017 game when Lob City routed the Rockets 125-96 during one of Harden’s more underwhelming games. Pierce scored 10 points in the final five minutes of this game to move a little higher in the all-time scoring list with 26k+ points. That was Pierce’s last playoff appearance before he was was waived by LA. He’d immediately sign a ceremonial contract with the Celtics, where he was a franchise star.

Now Pierce is retired, and Harden is on the Clippers with former Lob City titan Chris Paul, possibly on the cusp of history. “If Harden was able to get the Clippers a chip, we are going to have some crazy conversations about where he stands as an all-time.”

This is a different topic from how Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett won Boston its 17th title. Circumstances like these make a franchise star like Dwyane Wade go to the Miami Heat, and if Reggie Miller or Tyrese Haliburton had led the Pacers to a chip.

Paul Pierce is on a James Harden campaign

This isn’t of course a brand new Paul Pierce take. He’s long maintained that James Harden is the most underrated player in the league. He said something similar with a slight brow-raising twist a year ago. (Given the timing, he might’ve been smack in the middle of filming Starting 5, too.)

“Everybody talks, they say Curry (is) the reason we play – I think a lot of the reason we play like this is James Harden… Step-back threes, everybody going into their bag, and getting to their threes. That’s James Harden, that’s not Curry…” he said right as Harden was making his 70th triple-double and 100th 40-point game.

There is an argument to be made that The Beard is a cultural influence on his own. The Steph Curry comparison was a little hard to swallow.

Curry made the pure 3-point shot popular league-wide as an effective method to win championships. See: Boston Celtics, who invited the ’08 champs, including Pierce, to the 18th championship parade. (How likely would it be for the Clippers to invite Pierce if Harden led them to a championship?)

James Harden’s offensive style- the same one that produced consecutive scoring titles, assist crowns, and a mastery of drawing contact- remains one of the league’s most distinctive blueprints. It’s nearly impossible to replicate, yet two of today’s premier talents have come closest.

Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have both absorbed elements of Harden’s approach, blending deliberate pace, isolation brilliance, and foul-drawing craft into their own arsenals. SGA, in particular, has validated that Harden’s style can do more than fill stat sheets- it can win championships, reshape franchise history, and spark all-time debates.

There is some truth to (sorry, not sorry) The Truth. Let’s see if it manifests.