James Harden beat out finalists LeBron James and Anthony Davis for his first MVP after leading the league in scoring and guiding the Rockets to an NBA-best 65-17 record. USA TODAY Sports
SANTA MONICA — Long before the Houston Rockets’ James Harden became a six-time All-Star, back when he was an eighth-grader growing up in Los Angeles and Kobe and Shaq ran the NBA for those hometown Lakers, he wrote a letter to his mother that has now become part of his hoops legend.
“Imma be a star,” it read.