In the four and a half years since the now-infamous James Harden defensive low-light reel went viral, a lot has changed.
Primarily, Harden has elevated himself to a perennial MVP candidate, proving he can be the driving force of a historically efficient offense.
But despite the nightly brilliance, Harden’s also gained an unshakable reputation on the less-sexy end of the floor, causing fans to feed into their own confirmation bias and readily await to critique each and every defensive misstep they can catch.
Only, Harden isn’t a bad defender anymore.