Our player preview series for the 2026 Clippers continues with All-Star James Harden, the Clippers’ locker room leader and chief ballhandler.
Basic Information
Height: 6’5
Weight: 220 pounds
Position: Point Guard
Age: 36
Years in NBA: 16
Regular Season Stats: 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 4.3 turnovers in 35.3 minutes per game across 79 games played (all starts) on 41.0/35.2/87.4 shooting splits (8.5 3PA, 7.3 FTA) with 58.2% TS
Contract Status: Signed a two-year, $81.5M deal this summer with a $39.2M salary this season and a $42.3M player option next summer
Expectations
James Harden blew all of last year’s expectations out of the water with a frankly incredible 2025 season where he carried the Clippers on offense just about the entire year until Kawhi returned to full health towards season’s end. He had some down stretches, but the totality of his numbers is still very impressive considering his age, miles, and lack of offensive support for much of the year.
However, all that said, there seems to be a pretty open understanding in the Clippers front office, coaching staff, and even with Harden himself that a repeat of the 2025 season is unlikely. Harden simply can’t play that many games with that minutes and creation load again, and the Clippers took steps to ensure he wouldn’t have to by signing Chris Paul and Bradley Beal to bolster their ballhandling and playmaking. Thus, I’d say expectations for Harden are much more in line with his 2024 campaign, with scoring in the mid to high teens, assists in the eight to 10 range, and lower turnovers than last year while being a more efficient scorer. He is locked in as the Clippers’ starting point guard and lead playmaker, and I have every expectation he will be good in that role this year, even if his numbers go down from last season.
Strengths
For all of Harden’s capabilities as a scorer, his passing ability is what will be most valuable on this Clippers team. Harden is 13th all-time in the NBA in assists, and has an outside chance at getting to 10th this season. He’s a brilliant passer that can manipulate the defense in all manner of ways to create open shots. This year, with the addition of both a thunderous rim-runner (John Collins) and a shooting big man (Brook Lopez), Harden will have even more avenues to success as a playmaker. There are only a few players in the league who are better at making offense easier for their teammates than Harden, and if the Clippers are going to have a good offense this year they will need Harden to keep the trains running on time.
While not nearly the scorer he was in his prime (when he led the league in scoring three years in a row), James is still a major scoring threat, averaging close to 23 points per game on excellent efficiency. He doesn’t take nearly as many threes or get to the line as much as earlier in his career due to a decrease in explosiveness, but players who take as many threes and get to the line as much as him per game can still be counted on the fingers of one hand. The mid-level scoring remains a bit hit-or-miss, and I wish Harden would get that 15-foot midrange jumper down, but there’s no denying he can still get buckets. On nights when the three-point shot is humming, Harden can still look almost unstoppable.
There’s no doubt that Harden was the leader of the 2025 Clippers. Some might scoff and say that very fact is why the Clippers floundered in the Nuggets series and capitulated completely in Game 7. Maybe. Yet, there’s no denying that Harden was the most accountable player on the Clippers last year, for better or worse, and that the team’s identity and culture (almost entirely positive) were attributed to Harden’s leadership. Nothing seems to have changed so far, with Harden organizing a mini-camp before the Clippers training camp and clearly being discussed as the head of the team. There might be some downside to Harden being the team leader, but it’s also refreshing to have a star player being the actual face of the team after five years of Paul George and Kawhi dodging that burden.
James Harden has been an iron man most of his career. He dealt with some injuries from 2021 to 2023 when on the Nets and Sixers, but rarely missed games during his prime in Houston, and has played 72 and 79 games in his two years with the Clippers. That availability was a big part of the Clippers’ success last year, both in terms of Harden’s ability to carry the offense and on-court chemistry. Hopefully the Clippers will be able to rest Harden a bit more this year to decrease his minutes per game as well as maybe his games played a tad, but compared to many of the Clippers’ other players Harden has a big edge for availability.
Weaknesses
On a game-in, game-out basis, the main flaw in James Harden’s game is that he can be a subpar defender. During the grind of an 82-game season, his effort can wax and wane, and there are nights where it is just noticeable he isn’t putting in a lot of work on that end. Even when he is trying, Harden’s just not quick laterally anymore, which means he will get picked on by quicker guards when cross-matched. He is strong and good at checking larger players, and his quick hands allow him to rack up steals, so he’s not a total zero on that end. However, Harden’s defense will be an issue come playoff time should the Clippers get there, and there will be a good chunk of regular season games where his defense will be a frustration.
Harden’s biggest criticism throughout his career might be his checkered playoff history. While most players’ performance declines in the playoffs (better game planning, higher quality of opponents, increase of pressure, etc.), Harden’s issues go a bit beyond that. His numbers do dip in the postseason (though on the whole they’re still quite good), but the pattern of his play is what’s unfortunate, as he generally plays well early on in series and wilts as the games mount in importance. Some (maybe even a lot) of that is fatigue due to the immense load that Harden has had to carry on offense for most of his teams. But there’s just no denying that Harden tightens up in those moments, revealed most consistently by his lack of aggression. It’s something that the Clippers will have to deal with if they reach the playoffs, though Harden has also had several incredible playoff performances for the Clippers.
Summary
James Harden is one of the Clippers’ most important players for the 2026 season. If he can be just as effective as he was last year, albeit in a somewhat lesser role, the Clippers will probably be in decent shape. His ability to floor raise on offense is critical for a Clippers’ roster that’s still relatively short on playmaking and explosiveness, and they’ll need him to be a playoff team. While there’s a chance that this season could be the end of the road for Harden with the Clippers (he has a player option for next year that he could decline if he has another great season), their two-year partnership has been an overall very positive one, and I’d imagine that continues into this third year.
