Rockets honour James Harden with tribute video in his return to Houston

Author Photo
James Harden (Brooklyn Nets)

James Harden was back in Houston to take on the Rockets and it was all love between the former franchise star and the organisation he spent eight seasons with, who honoured him with a tribute video. 

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From the dizzying stepbacks to the high-octane scoring nights, the video highlighted both Harden's work on the court and off it, with the 32-year-old becoming a big part of the Houston community with his “3 The Harden Way” foundation.

Harden's time in Houston was one of their most successful, making the playoffs in each of his eight full seasons, averaging 29.6 points, 6.6 assists, 5.5 rebounds. He was named an All-Star eight times in Houston and led the league in scoring three times (2018-2020) as well as being named Most Valuable Player of the Year in 2018.

He will go down as one of the greatest players in franchise history and is second behind Hakeem Olajuwon all-time in scoring and leads the franchise in 3-pointers made (2,029), 3-pointers attempted (5,602), free throws made (5,554), assists (4,796), triple-doubles (46) and PER (26.8).

The Beard also holds the franchise's top seven highest-scoring performances and outside of Calvin Murphy's 57 points (1978), Harden holds the next to spots to round out the top 10.

  • March 22, 2019 vs. San Antonio — 61 points — 19-34 FG, 9-13 3P, 14-17 FT
  • January 23, 2019 vs. New York — 61 points — 17-38 FG, 5-20 3P, 22-25 FT
  • January 30, 2018 vs. Orlando — 60 points — 19-30 FG, 5-14 3P, 17-18 FT
  • February 28, 2019 vs. Miami — 58 points — 16-32 FG, 8-18 3P, 18-18 FT
  • January 16, 2019 vs. Brooklyn — 58 points — 16-34 FG, 5-19 3P, 21-23 FT
  • March 20, 2019 vs. Memphis — 57 points — 18-39 FG, 9-17 3P, 12-12 FT
  • January 14, 2019 vs. Memphis — 57 points — 17-33 FG, 6-15 3P, 17-18 FT

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Author(s)
Benyam Kidane Photo

Benyam Kidane is a senior NBA editor for The Sporting News.