Authors: David Kamenetz, Toby Khabie, Stephen Levitt, Jake Miller

davidkamenetz2026@u.northwestern.edu, tobiaskhabie2026@u.northwestern.edu, stephenlevitt2026@u.northwestern.edu, jakemiller2026@u.northwestern.edu

“Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over again they complained about their bad roommates. They never thought to be self aware enough that they’re the bad roommate. They’re the problem. Hey James, you’re the problem!”

The words of Mavericks analyst James Dameris quickly spread across social media, becoming just one of many Harden critics on the Nov. 10 pregame broadcast when the Mavs faced Harden’s latest team, the Clippers.

For years, fans and analysts like Dameris have deemed the former MVP as “the problem.” Harden’s otherwise illustrious resume is stained by the glaring lack of playoff success. The three-time NBA scoring champion has racked up individual accolades, but come May, “The Beard” seems to disappear. 

Harden’s career began in Oklahoma City, where he made the NBA Finals in 2012 for the first and only time in his career playing alongside Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The budding trio lost at the hands of Miami’s already established three-headed monster of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and Harden left for Houston after the defeat.

In Houston, Harden became a star, leading the Rockets to the playoffs in eight straight seasons. However, the team reached the Western Conference Finals just twice, losing both times. Despite playing with superstars like Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and even his old teammate and friend Russell Westbrook, the Rockets never made it to the Finals during the Harden era. He eventually forced his way to Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and most recently Los Angeles, teaming up with superstar after superstar, with nothing to show for it — at least not yet. 

In order to examine if Harden is really “the problem,” we must examine how he impacts his team when he’s on the court versus when he’s off the court. We found statistics from every season, showing Harden’s impact on each metric when he played against when he was on the bench. 

Throughout his career, Harden has played about 73% of game-time when he was active, meaning he averages around 35 minutes per game, an undoubtedly significant amount of time to be on the court. It can be fairly deduced, then, that Harden’s abundance of minutes per game translates to a large impact on his team, whether good or bad.

When we look at Harden’s on-off statistics, we notice that on average he has increased his team’s Offensive Rating (ORtg) by 8.8 points, meaning the team produces 8.8 more points per 100 possessions when he’s on the court compared to when he’s off the court. But this isn’t a secret. Offensively, Harden produces.