James Harden Would Have Lost MVP Title if Not for 29YO Hawks Star, Lakers Legend Claims

Despite the early struggles, the Los Angeles Clippers had full trust in James Harden. This is because they believe the 2018 MVP has what it takes to lead and be an integral part of the team. During his MVP years, James Harden gave nightmares to his defenders. He was unstoppable on the court and led the Houston Rockets to 65 wins in the 2017-18 season.

But a former Rockets star believes that one of the reasons Harden won the MVP award is because of his teammate Clint Capela, who helped inflate Harden’s numbers on the box score.

“He got James Harden the MVP. Let’s be honest. You know all the assists he got,” said the 7x champion in a recent episode of the Big Shot Bob podcast while talking about the Atlanta Hawks trying to trade multiple players from the team.

In the 2018 MVP season, James Harden averaged 30.4 PPG and 8.8 APG. Horry believes that most of these assist numbers came from the alley-oops that he threw for Clint Capela. In the season prior, Harden averaged 11.1 APG. Capela and Harden shared the court for 6 years. During this time, they had built up great chemistry, which led to them getting easy buckets.

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Although Harden averaged more points and assists in the previous season, he lost the MVP race to Russell Westbrook, who is now his teammate on the Los Angeles Clippers, and they are looking to make a run in the postseason.

The Los Angeles Clippers struck gold with James Harden

The Clippers have gotten scary good after the inclusion of James Harden on the roster. They struggled a few games after Harden went to LA, but since then, they have been destroying everyone in their path. They also had a 9-game and 5-game winning streak since then. The Clippers are currently 4th in the Western Conference.

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While there were initial apprehensions on whether four superstars could play together on the team, James Harden’s addition to the team has smoothed out the rotation and the ball handling for the players. If the team stays on their current trajectory, it won’t be surprising to see them make a deep run in the playoffs.

What do you think of Robert Horry’s opinion that James Harden won the MVP in 2018 because of Clint Capela? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!