James Harden: 'I Changed the Game!' Does Rockets Ex Care about 'Legacy'?

Rockets ex James Harden says, "I'm one of the people that changed the game of basketball. Honestly, the only thing that I'm missing is a championship.''

James Harden seems to realize that he is a controversial figure in the NBA ... though it's difficult to tell whether he enjoys or despises that status.

"It's one reason I don't really like doing interviews," the former Houston Rockets superstar said ... while, of course, doing an interview. "Because people will take the smallest thing that I say and basically screw it up and then it becomes a problem."

In accordance with that framework, let's take another tact on Harden's interview with FOX Sports ... and on his NBA legacy ... even though things obviously soured in Houston ...

When he says, "I'm one of the people that changed the game of basketball. Honestly, the only thing that I'm missing is a championship''?

Yes. Both of those things are true.

Harden, now 33, muscled his way out of Houston (via a 2021 trade to the Brooklyn Nets) in a way many observers thought unsavory. His time with the Nets proved to be a failure in terms of that missing piece to his career - a championship.

Now he is in Philadelphia, and last spring the 76ers did what Harden's teams too frequently do as for the fourth straight season a Harden-led club failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs.

The FOX piece paints a picture of Harden being emotionally devastated by the most recent failure, maybe in part because he once again engineered a trade to his hand-picked destination. But it also points out facts, like this one: "Harden's record in his last nine elimination games to 1-8. In the second half of that (most recent) season-ending loss, Harden took just two shots.''

Harden's individual brilliance is undeniable. He is an all-time great, a 10-time All-Star, a six-time All-NBA first-teamer, a three-time scoring champ and an MVP. But the failures in key moments in big postseason games is part of a legacy that he admits he does care about.

"Don't you care about how you'll be remembered?" the FOX interviewer asked.

"Of course," Harden said, the author noting that his reply came with his "voice growing stern,' "and I'm gonna be remembered in basketball!"

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