Dwyane Wade vs James Harden – Analyzing 35YO NBA Champ’s Controversial Shooting Guard Stance

Jeff Teague is determined to drag one of his most contentious debates once more. Even though Stephen A. Smith and the NBA community at large disagreed with his comparison between Dwyane Wade and James Harden last year, he’s rehashed it. He was on Udonis Haslem’s podcast, The OGs, and told the Miami Heat OG that he holds the Beard in higher regard over Haslem’s former teammate.

The hosts brought up a question by a fan asking if the 2021 NBA champion really believes James Harden is better than D-Wade. Teague responded, “I think James Harden is the number three shooting guard all time.” To be fair, he’s speaking as a competitor who frequently went up against Harden on the court.

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“Going against him [Harden], competing against him, like it was real life scheming. Like you had to scheme for D-Wade too but James Harden, when he was by himself in Houston… Bro, they was going to the Western Conference finals every year, they was doing all this stuff, and he was unbelievable averaging 35, 8, 8… He was unguardable.” 

Teague told UD that he does respect Dwyane Wade for his talent but also said implied that the Miami Heat weren’t always strong opponents till LeBron James arrived. However, Udonis Haslem was having none of it. He reminded everyone, and Teague especially, that Miami won a championship before James arrived.

Teague is not seeing much agreement online too. While prime Harden was good, The OGs fans don’t think he’s better than The Flash. This restarted the same discussion online to counter his claims. After all, that one fan only asked this question because of what Jeff Teague said before.

Jeff Teague speaks “out of pocket” on Dwyane Wade’s ranking

Jeff Teague spurred a raging debate on The Club 520 podcast in 2023 when he listed his top 5 shooting guards list. “I got Harden over D-Wade but I’m out of pocket,” he said. That didn’t sit well with many. Stephen A. Smith echoed fans’ sentiments when he said, “It’s D-Wade. D-Wade has three rings and Harden has none.”

However, in a separate interview Teague doubled down on his point that The Beard averaged higher than Wade in his prime. “He just doesn’t have the rings to show it. So they like put him down a tier or whatever but rings don’t matter to me when I say somebody hoopin’.”

In his prime, Harden was indeed regarded as one of the best shooting guards of all time. However, fans simply can’t agree he was better than Dwyane Wade who could dominate in scoring and defense. Now past his prime, James Harden’s flaws are a lot more glaring than Dwyane Wade’s were before his retirement. What do you think about Teague reigniting this topic once more?

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