Exclusive: James Harden Gets Honest About NBA Career, Legacy With Clippers

Speaking exclusively with Clippers On SI, Harden opened up about his NBA career, the legacy he is working to leave, and how he wants people to understand him as a human being.

One of the NBA’s biggest stars the last decade-plus, Harden has been active off the court with different partnerships and business ventures. At this stage of his career, the 16-year veteran sees this as an opportunity to show who he really is.

Set to star in a 2025 Super Bowl ad for Pringles, Harden is joined by fellow mustached celebrities Andy Reid and Nick Offerman for the “Call of the Mustaches” campaign. Whether it’s starring in a Super Bowl commercial, going on yearly China tours with Adidas, or seeing fans travel across the world to watch him play, Harden is humbled by the level of superstardom basketball has allowed him to achieve.

While he knows this about himself, Harden also knows he’s been one of the NBA’s most criticized players since his rise to superstardom. This has often been basketball-related criticism that most stars experience, but it’s also included more personal attacks like the two-minute viral rant a Dallas Mavericks analyst directed at him last season.

Whether it’s critics being adamant his stepback is a travel, or the more cruel attacks on his career and character, Harden is unbothered by it all.

“It always never bothered me,” Harden said of the criticism he’s faced throughout his career. “Like, you don't really see me go back and forth with a reporter or somebody on TV or the internet. I just continue to chip away, put the work in, put the work in, put the work in, and that's just how I am.”

Harden added, “It really doesn't bother me. And then hopefully, eventually, people will catch on later to who I am and what my message really was. Which I think they're starting to understand it now.”

Fans calling Harden’s stepback a travel isn’t just an example that made sense for this article. It’s something he specifically mentioned when speaking about his critics:

“Even when the stepback or the double stepback or whatever you call it was being put into play, it was so many people around the world: ‘He's traveling. He's traveling.’ Now you see it around the world six, seven years later. So it's like, people might not catch onto it right away, but eventually later down the road, they'll catch on. That’s the kind of person I am. Which is unique.”

While it may have taken longer into his career than it should have, it seems people are starting to catch onto who James Harden really is. Different narratives have persisted about his work ethic and motivation, but as the 35-year-old guard quietly keeps an undermanned Clippers team firmly in the Western Conference playoff mix, more people are taking notice of the leadership that has always been there.

Named to his 11th All-Star team last week, Harden was given the much-deserved honor he missed out on two seasons ago.

“I’ve been on the other side where I led the league in assists and didn’t make it,” Harden said prior to his selection. “So it would be an honor to me. I would love be a part of the team.”