Oh, how quickly people forget! Only a few years ago, James Harden was in the conversation of arguably the greatest scorer ever. A 50-point triple-double was every night’s work for him. However, when Jeff Teague recently claimed that Harden might be a better scorer than Kobe Bryant, he was on the receiving end of a ton of heat. Surprisingly, lifetime Kobe fan, DeMar DeRozan understood where Jeff was coming from as he too marveled at The Beard’s dominant Rockets era, even getting the nod from Damian Lillard!

Jeff Teague asked DeMar DeRozan if he was out of pocket for his James Harden claim. The Kings star responded, “The run James had like that ain’t even a video game. That sh*t was like some f*****g Space Jam shit.” Sure enough, the league had no answer for The Beard when he was with the Rockets as he put up insane stat lines like 61-15-4 and 60-10-11 regularly! That propelled his name to constantly be part of MVP talks during that run and even bagged the trophy for his performance in the 2017-18 season.

Understanding how difficult it was to pull off what James Harden did for years, DeMar DeRozan said on the Club 520 Podcast, “That run James had bro, was the most incredible sh*t I know I’ve ever seen.” Backing his point, even Damian Lillard shared the post on his Instagram story and wrote, “Frfr.” As great a scorer as Kobe was in his prime, there is a legitimate argument for Harden being as good, if not better, at that skill than the Black Mamba.

Moreover, Deebo was in awe of how effortless James Harden made it look every night back then, “Kobe is my GOAT all of that everything, but it’s like what’s real is real. The sh*t James was doing, I don’t think we will ever see that again.” However, let’s showcase to you a brief fair-sided argument before you can take your call.

There might be no losers in the James Harden-Kobe Bryant argument

When it comes to accolades and championships, Kobe was miles ahead of Harden as he finished his career with five rings. However, they might be neck and neck in the scoring department. As for The Beard, he was the scoring champion for three straight years and even finished a season averaging 36.1 points. Moreover, his performances always translated to wins, as Harden never missed the playoffs during his time in Houston. And if it wasn’t for the mighty Warriors he might even have a ring to show for his amazing run.

Meanwhile, Kobe was not too far behind as he also won the scoring title twice and averaged a career-high 35.4 points in one of those seasons. But his greatest scoring feat came when he scored 81 points, the second-highest individual score ever behind Wilt’s 100, against the Raptors in 2006.

While the Harden-Kobe scoring debate continues, The Beard himself has deemed Black Mamba the GOAT, “There was only one person who made me love, I mean fall in love with the game, and that’s Kobe Bryant… The skill set and things that I’ve learned, I kind of picked up on my own, but as far as falling in love with the game, it’s definitely been Kobe.”

With both stars dominant during their peak, there might be no wrong answer as to who was the better scorer. Thoughts?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger