It has been some time since he was considered a start player in the NBA, but James Harden is still putting his mark in the record books. And should he have a standard week coming up, he’ll move into second place on the all-time three point list before next weekend.
James Harden Should Reach An NBA Milestone This Week
Stephen Curry is of course the 3-point king, and played during the same generation as Harden. Curry gets all the accolades, and rightfully so. He has 800+ more made three pointers than Ray Allen, who is currently second on the list, and it would take a serious sharpshooter to come along and touch his numbers.
But of the five players in NBA history who have hit the most 3s, three of them are active, including Harden. The 35-year-old Clippers guard has racked up 2,962 long range buckets in his career, good enough to place him in third place. But he is nipping at the heels of Allen, and should move into second on the all-time list in one of the games coming up this week.
James Harden on being 15 threes from Ray Allen:
“It’s huge. Seeing Ray Ray. The sniper he was. The big time shots he took and he made. Now just being a part of that legacy. Hopefully I can get right behind Steph. Pause. It’s a great accomplishment…” pic.twitter.com/jcNAdyNhLm
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) November 5, 2024
Harden is currently 12 made threes behind Allen (2,973). So far this season, he is averaging roughly 2.5 makes per game on 8.1 attempts, meaning that should he play at his normal pace and rate, it would take about 4.5 games for him to reach Allen’s mark. The Clippers will take on the Raptors on Saturday evening, and have a game every other day from now until next Sunday.
Should his averages hold true, James Harden would move past Ray Allen on the all-time NBA three point list at some point during next Sunday’s home game against the Jazz.
Harden Moving Up The Scoring List, As Well
That isn’t the only milestone that Harden is involved with. During Friday night’s game against the Kings, he moved into 19th place on the all-time scoring list, passing Kevin Garnett and bringing his career total to 26,073 points. Harden currently sits 323 points behind John Havlicek, who is only 2 points behind Paul Pierce. The averages say that Harden will pass the two Celtics’ legends in about 16 games from now, which would be the December 8th contest against his former team, the Rockets.
Should James Harden play in something like 68 games this season and continues with his 20 point per game average, he’ll be on track to score 1,180 more points in 2024-25. That would bring his career total to 27,253, which would be good enough for 13th place all-time. He would pass the likes of Tim Duncan, Dominique Wilkins, and Oscar Robertson.