NBA Veteran Claims Harden Should be a 2 time NBA Champion

Winning an NBA championship is the most prestigious team honor for a professional basketball player. It's so challenging that many all-time greats, including Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor, and Allen Iverson, all ended their careers without ever winning one.

Some of the best retired players to never win an NBA championship pic.twitter.com/s8wWGSQQGS— E-Man (@WigginsWick22) July 18, 2022

One current player who is still chasing an NBA championship is James Harden, who, now at the age of 34, sees his chances shrinking smaller and smaller with each passing season. One NBA veteran, Derrick Favors, has had his say and claimed that Harden should have won at least two championships during his time with the Houston Rockets. He cites the sudden emergence of the Golden State Warriors dynasty as the primary reason why Harden didn't achieve this.




Rockets vs Warriors Rivalry

The Warriors are widely remembered for their rivalry with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, as they matched up in the Finals for four straight seasons. At the time, fans believed that these two teams would continue to face each other indefinitely, making it one of the greatest sporting rivalries in recent years.


During the years of the Warriors' Finals runs, a lesser-known rivalry emerged in the battle for the Western Conference. This rivalry featured the Harden-led Houston Rockets, who faced off against the Warriors in four playoff series over 5 seasons, including two Conference Finals matchups.

The reason this rivalry may be lesser known is because the Warriors won all four series. However, in reality, the Rockets posed a greater threat to the Warriors than some of their Finals matchups in multiple years. Many fans even believe that the Rockets would have won their 2018 matchup if it weren't for an injury to Chris Paul, which left him out of the historic Game 7 matchup.


In that year, the Rockets were the number 1 seed in the entire league. They finished the season with 7 more wins than the Warriors. Additionally, they had James Harden, who was having the best season of his career and won the MVP award while averaging 30.4 points and 8.8 assists per game.


Year by year, the Rockets were on the cusp of winning championships. They even tried bringing in new stars to pair alongside Harden, with Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook all joining Houston in their quest to outshine the Golden State Warriors. Unfortunately for Harden and the Rockets, the Warriors also continued to improve, later adding the talents of Kevin Durant to their roster.

Harden's upcoming season

Harden currently remains in Philadelphia despite demanding a trade away this summer. With no suitors emerging in recent weeks, it looks like Harden may continue to be a 76er for at least one more season, if not half of one.

Harden is paired with the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid, and the team does have championship aspirations with franchise star Embiid in his prime. However, this current season does not look too promising for Harden to win his first championship with Philadelphia, as it's only been touted as the 7th most likely scenario according to sportsbooks.

Well when you take in to account that he is the perceived starting point guard for a team that is also ranked in the top 10 with overall odds of winning the NBA Championship vs the fact the a player that is 40 something odd spaces in front of Russ is with a team ranked #25 🤷🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/npZrh29uQ8— Raheem (@MyCasualOpinion) October 15, 2023

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Si.com