James Harden has become one of the more overrated players in recent memory.

As Harden's prime is getting further away from the present, people kind of overblow how dominant he really was during those years. I kind of agree that his prime is a little underrated when it was happening but people look at his statlines and random highlights/clips (like rubio guarding him) out of context that you'd think the way they talk about him he was a top 3 player perenially.

In his most dominant years which is around 2015-2021, he was probably a top 3 player in like 1-2 seasons.

2015: LeBron, Curry, KD/CP3/Kawhi

2016: LeBron, Curry, KD/Kawhi

2017: LeBron, KD, Kawhi/Curry

2018: LeBron, Harden, KD

2019: Kawhi, Giannis, Curry/Harden

2020: LeBron, Kawhi, Giannis

2021: Giannis, KD, Curry/Jokic

He was never as dominant as his statlines and his playoff performances always have a significant drop compared to his regular season play.

Regular Season: 31,8,6 on 61% TS

Playoffs: 27,7,6 on 57%, TS

Before the comparisons with DWade, I don't really see how current Luka is not seen as the same level/better than Harden. Luka is basically 85% of what peak Harden was during the regular season but is on a completely different level during the postseason.

It's really not about Harden being a bum or not a top 50 player of all time because he is. He is a top 30-40 player of all time but he is a level below Wade. I'm not even that high on Wade and Luka. Wade is around top 25/4th best SG while Luka is only the 3rd-4th best overall player right now.

Overall Harden is a great player, I just think some people kind of overhype how good he really was during his peak.