This summer, Olympic basketballer Kevin Durant proclaimed that his former teammate, James Harden, doesn’t get enough credit. Harden, the 2014-2015 MVP runner-up and a perennial All-Star, is probably the best 2-guard in the league—that depends on how you feel about Klay Thompson—and has single-handedly kept the Houston Rockets relevant—that depends on how you feel about Dwight Howard—since his arrival in 2012.
However, there are several knocks on Harden. He sometimes looks for the foul instead of the bucket. He plays little to no defense. He flops. He’s a ball-hog. You’ve likely heard some of these things about some of the NBA’s other explosive superstars—Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony—but they seem to stick to Harden that much more in basketball debates.
A fan sitting courtside at a recent Drew League game was appalled when he saw Harden commit one of those fallacies with his own two eyes. After a play, the irate fan began yelling at Harden, claiming that the Rockets guard was “Vlade Divac-ing”—Divac was a world-class flopper during his playing days, All-NBA Flop Team, if you will—and reminding Harden that he didn’t have to lie in the Drew League. “We’re boy scouts.”
Harden respectfully argued his case, but it wasn’t much use. Hopefully he has better luck with the refs this season.