James Harden's Legacy Is Officially on the Line with Philadelphia 76ers

As famed poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou once said, "When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."

So why don't we believe James Harden, now on his fourth team and with his seventh different collection of stars around him, when he keeps showing us who he is?

The 10-time All-Star is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, having pushed his way out of a Brooklyn Nets franchise that he fought to join less than 13 months before.

Of course, this time will be different.

Just like the time before it, and the one before that.

As Harden, a future Hall of Famer, three-time scoring champ and 2018 MVP, makes yet another jump to another team with another star alongside him, there's once again reason for optimism.

Joel Embiid is playing like an MVP! There's a lot of young talent on this team! Reuniting with Daryl Morey is just what he needed!

All of this could be true. The Sixers, 32-22 without Harden this year, could jump to the top of the East with him. With a supporting cast of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Danny Green, Shake Milton and others, the talent is there for Harden to finally win his first title now in his 13th season.

At least, it better be.

For Harden, 32, this is it. This is his final chance to prove he can make it work before looking for the exit once again. No more rearranging the roster around him. No more searching for the next opportunity.

Harden has to win with the Sixers. His legacy depends on it.

No one can blame Harden for not winning with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Spending just three years there while serving as the team's sixth man, simply making it to the 2012 NBA Finals was an accomplishment given the youth on the roster. Harden, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were all growing into the superstars they would eventually become, with OKC's refusal to give Harden a max rookie extension eventually leading to the end of his brief time with the Thunder.

No one can blame Harden for not winning during his first season with the Rockets either, not with Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik serving as his primary running mates.

Starting in 2013, however, Harden began showing us who he really is.

Dwight Howard was poached from the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency to be Harden's superstar sidekick and cover for his defensive deficiencies. Although originally signing a four-year, $88 million contract in Houston, Howard opted out after three years together with Harden to join the Atlanta Hawks.

According to Ken Berger, then of CBS Sports, Harden pushed for the organization to trade Howard and fire head coach Kevin McHale, with Houston doing the latter following a 4-7 start in 2015-16.

"It's really bad for the locker room dynamic," a source told Berger. "If everybody knows that James Harden can fire you or trade you, are you going to pass the ball to Dwight or are you going to pass the ball to James Harden?"

OK, so Howard and Harden didn't work, but neither did Howard and Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers, so Harden was rightfully given a pass.

Fast forward to 2017-18, when Chris Paul was acquired via trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. Paul would now be the answer for Harden to finally win a title with, relieving him of his enormous scoring and ball-handling responsibilities.

Of course, this partnership lasted just two short years, with Harden and Paul going nearly two months without even speaking to each other during the 2018-19 season, per Yahoo's Vincent Goodwill.

"There's no respect at all, on either side," a source told Goodwill at the time. "They need to get away from one another. Chris doesn't respect James' standing in the league, and James doesn't respect the work Chris has put in to this point."

OK, so Howard didn't work out.

Now, Paul and Harden don't speak or respect each other.

Maybe Russell Westbrook will be different, some thought.

Round 3 of keeping Harden happy meant trading Paul for Harden's former OKC teammate and childhood friend in Westbrook, a deal that also cost Houston first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 with first-round pick swaps in 2021 and 2025.

Harden, who had his hands around the Rockets' throat by this time, also said he'd demand a trade if Houston didn't trade for Westbrook, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

Harden and Westbrook would last just a single season, with Westbrook growing annoyed by the way Harden was pampered by the franchise coupled with his own inability to play the ball-dominant style he was accustomed to with the Thunder. Westbrook had proved his ability to play alongside other big-time scorers in Durant and Paul George. Asking him to do the same next to Harden, however, proved to be too much.

Houston's last-ditch effort to keep Harden happy yet again failed, as a Westbrook-John Wall swap lasted just eight games, although Wall stated he expected Harden to be a Rocket all season following a "great talk."

With Howard, Paul, Westbrook and Wall all crashing and burning as options next to Harden, a fresh start with the Brooklyn Nets to play alongside yet another former teammate in Kevin Durant looked like his last chance at a title and to protect his damaged legacy.

Brooklyn would be different. He wouldn't have to do everything like in Houston. This would prove all those other failed star matches weren't Harden's fault.

Again, Harden already told us who he was.

He is a generational offensive talent who eventually clashes with every star teammate he's ever been around. Someone who enjoys their off-court activities perhaps a little too much. Someone who, unlike stars such as LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Paul who take their conditioning very seriously, could certainly enter seasons in better shape. Someone who isn't willing to stay and make things work but rather push or threaten for change to happen.

And yet here we are, just a little over a year since he joined the Nets and things would be different, and Harden has wiggled his way out again to a new situation, which, of course, will be different this time.

At some point, we have to look around and see the obvious common denominator.

Durant and Irving have both won championships as No. 1 or 2 options. Paul has since been an All-Star in Oklahoma City and Phoenix while leading the Suns to the Finals last season. Westbrook and Wall had already had success playing next to high-scoring stars. Even Howard transformed himself into a high-level role player while winning a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019-20.

From an individual standpoint, Harden has accomplished all a player can. MVP, All-Star, All-NBA, scoring champ, assist leader, a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary team.

His legacy now depends on winning a championship, something only perhaps the three shooting guards in league history who we can confidently say are better than Harden (Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade) have done three times or more.

Except, time's running out.

Harden's game has understandably slowed down. His 57.6 true shooting mark is the lowest since his rookie season in 2009-10. Harden's 22.5 points per game are also his fewest since playing a sixth-man role in Oklahoma City a decade ago, while his defense and off-ball offense have been non-existent this season.

Maybe this is finally the perfect situation for Harden, now paired with Embiid under Morey's watchful eye. Always a strong pick-and-roll initiator who ranked between the 76.4 and 97.3 percentiles in Houston (since the league started tracking data in 2015-16), Harden once again has an elite big man to play off. His pick-and-roll numbers had plummeted in Brooklyn this season (0.83 points per possession, 48.6 percentile) with Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge and James Johnson as his primary roll partners.

Maybe the 76ers win the title this season and all of his pushing and prodding and forcing himself onto new teams or into new situations will have been worth it.

If not, and this fails, there is no next chance.

With a salary that's rapidly approaching $50 million per year and a potential new deal that ESPN's Bobby Marks is already predicting could be the worst in NBA history, Harden is slowly making the transition from superstar to an overpaid, inefficient team-wrecker that we're now seeing from Westbrook with the Lakers.

Philly may not even be able to get off his deal in a few years, much less swap Harden for actual incoming talent like the Sixers had to give up for him now.

Of course, none of this matters if he leads the Sixers to a title.

All of the past failed relationships and future bloated salaries won't seem quite as bad in the reflection of a Larry O'Brien trophy. The narrative around Harden will certainly change, as he'll be cemented as a top-four shooting guard of all time with a ring.

Harden in Philly simply has to work, although there's little evidence to suggest that it will.