James Harden in the two seasons from 18-19 and 19-20 averaged 35/7/8 across 146 games. He led the league in winshares during the span with 28.3.
While often labelled as a playoff under-performer, he also averaged 31/7/6 on 60% TS in the playoffs during this span.
His peak was truly remarkable and it’s a shame he only won a single MVP during his offensive prime.
Just to put things in perspective, Giannis who won two MVPs averaged 28/13/6 on 63% TS in the regular season during that span and 26/13/5 in the playoffs on 58% TS.
| Player | Regular Season | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|
| Harden (18-20) | 35/7/8 - 62% TS | 31/7/6 - 60% TS |
| Giannis (18-20) | 28/13/6 - 63% TS | 26/13/5 - 58% TS |
Prime Harden should have won two MVPs, but the media gave MVP to Steph in 2015 based on his team’s record, just an example of voters always moving the goal posts, sometimes they give it to the best player on the best team and sometimes they give it to the best player in the league despite their record, like how Jokic won MVP in 2020 despite the Nuggets being 3rd in the west and having the league’s 5th best record
Harden didn’t win MVP in 2015 despite his insane season but he won the first ever MVP decided by players only, the players in the league knew Harden was carrying his team more than Steph, must have been at least a little bit of consolation for Harden to know the guys he played against thought he was MVP
They always used to favor the best team for MVP, that only changed with the Westbrook MVP and since. But 2015 Steph beat out Harden in most advanced stats while also having comparable per-36 counting stats (remember, the 14-15 Warriors were blowing teams out with regularity, Steph sat a lot of 4th quarters and only played 32 mpg vs Harden’s nearly 37. It’s not like Harden got snubbed.
He should have won over Westbrook in my opinion, though. Better record, similar stats on better efficiency, largely outperformed preseason expectations with a surrounding cast that wasn’t much better than what Russ had.
Also, when talking about player-voted MVP, you have to realize a lot of players back then did not think Steph was all that, including Harden himself (“they ain’t even that good”). Nowadays he gets his flowers but back then, especially before 2015–16, players didn’t respect him as much as great players with more traditional playstyles.