James Harden passes Allen Iverson on all-time scoring list

James Harden is officially the 26th-highest scorer in NBA history. He surpassed all-time great Allen Iverson on Thursday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Coming into tonight’s game, he trailed Iverson by only 14 points.

Harden surpassed Iverson on a catch-and-shoot three late in the second quarter.

Both Iverson and Harden are in the conversation for being the best scorers in NBA history. Both logged multiple 30-point per game seasons, becoming isolation nightmares for opposing defenses. In particular, Harden’s 2018-19 campaign, when he averaged 36.1 points per game, was the highest scoring average recorded since Michael Jordan averaged over 37 points in the 1986-87 season.

It won’t take Harden much longer to move up the all-time scoring list, with Ray Allen being the next in line with a career 24,505 points. Harden is less than 200 points away from surpassing him, to become the NBA’s 25th-highest scorer all-time.

The scoring list from here on out becomes bunched up, and Harden’s “only” 2,000 or so points away from cracking the top-10. For perspective, Harden scored 1,400 points last season between Brooklyn and Philly, and that was with him only logging 65 regular-season games. At his current rate, he could accomplish this feat in two or three seasons.

Shifting back to the present, this is a remarkable feat by Harden. It takes a combination of durability and skill to accomplish something like this. It’s only right that he passed an all-time Sixers great in Philly.