By "old" I mean by NBA player standards, and even then maybe "no longer young" is more accurate. Harden's phenomenal scoring gets a lot of press this year (some negative, of course, which is mind-boggling), but I don't think he gets near enough credit for being able to do what he's doing at the age of 30. Nobody has EVER done this in the NBA before. Here are the 20 greatest scoring seasons in league history, sorted by the age of the player that year: Age 30 James Harden: 38.89 Age 29 James Harden: 36.13 Wilt Chamberlain: 33.53 Age 28: Wilt Chamberlain: 34.71 Elgin Baylor: 33.99 Age 27 Wilt Chamberlain: 36.85 Kobe Bryant: 35.40 Age 26 Wilt Chamberlain: 44.83 Elgin Baylor: 34.77 Michael Jordan: 33.57 Age 25 Wilt Chamberlain: 50.36 Age 24 Wilt Chamberlain: 37.60 Michael Jordan: 34.98 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 34.84 Tiny Archibald: 33.99 Age 23 Wilt Chamberlain: 38.39 Michael Jordan: 37.09 Bob McAdoo: 34.52 Charlie Scott: 33.38 Age 22 Rick Barry: 35.58 This is great for Rox fans, because it say Harden doesn't rely on youthful athleticism to get his points. Even at the end of his contract, Harden should still be among the league's better scorers.
A slightly different perspective: Here are those same guys who claim the 20 greatest scoring seasons in NBA history, listed by their best scoring season from age 30 on. That gap between #1 and #2 is huge. James Harden: 38.89 Rick Barry: 30.6 Michael Jordan: 30.4 Kobe Bryant: 27.9 Wilt Chamberlain: 27.3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 26.2 Elgin Baylor: 27.1 Bob McAdoo: 15.0 Tiny Archibald: 14.1 Charlie Scott: 12.0
