Nets' James Harden is having a historically good start with a new team
Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden recorded yet another triple-double on March 15. His team is red-hot, now winning 13 of its last 14 games.
That marks the 10th triple-double he has recorded in just 26 games with the team. For comparison, the guard notched almost exactly as many (11) during his final 154 regular-season games with the Houston Rockets between 2018 and 2021.
Overall, the former league MVP is averaging 25.1 points and 11.3 assists per game.
The start is not just good in the context of franchise history with the Nets. Complete data is only available after 1983, but per our research, Harden just became the only player on the record to ever average 25 points and 10 assists in his first 25 games with a team.
The first 15p/15r/15a game in franchise history belongs to JAMES. HARDEN. pic.twitter.com/il4nPyjKRs
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 16, 2021
As always, his scoring has been phenomenal, and he has finished with at least 20 points in each of his last 12 games. His playmaking, however, has jumped off the page in the history books.
According to our research, no other player has eclipsed 10.5 assists per game during their first 25 games with the Nets. Deron Williams was the closest in 2011 after he was traded from the Utah Jazz.
Brooklyn is 20-7 since Harden was traded from Houston and their offensive rating (120.0) in this two-month span is the best in the NBA. He is just one rebound per game shy of averaging a triple-double during his first bout in the Eastern Conference.
The craziest part is that fans have only seen 186 minutes featuring Harden on the court at the same time as both his star teammates, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Considering that composes less than 20 percent of the minutes that Harden has played with his new team, it will be fascinating to see what his (and his team’s) productivity looks like when Durant returns to action.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report