James Harden · Biography

James Edward Harden Jr. was born on August 26, 1989, in Los Angeles, California, and developed as a player at Artesia High School in Lakewood, in the southern part of Los Angeles County. A left-handed guard, he spent two seasons at Arizona State University before reaching the NBA in 2009. He went on to play for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets, the Brooklyn Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers, and he has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers since February 2026. He was named MVP of the 2017-18 season.

Artesia and Arizona State

At Artesia he was a McDonald’s All-American and a second-team Parade All-American in 2007, his final year of high school. That summer he moved on to Arizona State, where he played from 2007 to 2009. He made the All-Pac-10 first team in both of his college seasons, and in 2009 he was named Pac-10 Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American. The university later retired his No. 13. After his sophomore year he declared for the draft.

Sixth man in Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma City Thunder selected him third overall in the 2009 NBA draft. He came off the bench on a young team built around Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and in 2012 he won the Sixth Man of the Year award. That spring the Thunder reached the 2012 NBA Finals, the only Finals of Harden’s career, and lost to the Miami Heat in five games. Before the following season tipped off, on October 27, 2012, Oklahoma City traded him to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks and a second-round pick.

Eight and a half seasons in Houston

In Houston he became the centerpiece of the offense. In 2013 he played in his first All-Star Game and made the All-NBA Third Team; in 2014 and 2015 he was on the First Team. In 2017 he led the league in assists and returned to the All-NBA First Team, the first of four straight selections through 2020. In 2017-18 he averaged 30.4 points per game, won his first scoring title and was voted MVP. In January 2018 he recorded a 60-point triple-double.

The 2018-19 season was his most productive: 36.1 points per game, a second straight scoring title and a run of 32 consecutive games with at least 30 points, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 65 in a row in 1961-62. He reached his career high of 61 points twice that year, in January and March 2019. In November 2019 he scored 60 points in three quarters, and in 2020 he won a third consecutive scoring title. His game rested on the step-back three, isolation play and frequent trips to the free-throw line; as early as December 2016 he had posted a game of 50 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists.

Team USA

With the United States he won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, while still a Thunder player, and another gold at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, by then as a member of the Rockets.

Brooklyn and Philadelphia

On January 14, 2021, Houston sent him to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team trade that also involved the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers. His time in Brooklyn was brief: on February 10, 2022, the Nets traded Harden and Paul Millsap to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks. In Philadelphia he led the NBA in assists for a second time in 2023.

The Clippers and Cleveland

On November 1, 2023, the 76ers traded Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrušev to the Los Angeles Clippers for Marcus Morris Sr., Nicolas Batum, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Robert Covington, a move that took him back to his hometown. In November 2024 he passed Ray Allen for second place on the NBA’s all-time list of three-pointers made, and in December 2024 he joined Stephen Curry as one of only two players with 3,000 career threes. In 2025 he returned to the All-Star Game, his eleventh selection, and made the All-NBA Third Team; that April he reached 80 career triple-doubles. After about two and a half seasons with the Clippers, he was dealt at the February 2026 trade deadline to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, a trade completed on February 4, 2026.