DeMar DeRozan reflects on James Harden’s run on Rockets: ‘That s–t was like some f—–g Space Jam s–t’

Sacramento Kings wing DeMar DeRozan has a lot of respect for Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden and all that he’s accomplished while playing in the NBA.

“The run James had was f—— — that ain’t even a video game, that s— was like some f—— Space Jam s—,” said DeRozan. “… That run he had bro, that s— was f—— incredible. The s— looked like it was with no effort. … Kobe [Bryant] is my GOAT, all that, everything, but what’s real is real. The s— James was doing, I don’t think we’ll ever see that again.”

DeRozan and Harden are connected in the sense that they were both members of the same draft class. The former was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, while the latter was selected earlier with the No. 3 pick.

They also share a commonality in that Harden and DeRozan are two of the best scorers of their generation. Both players have well over 20,000 career points to their names.

But the manners in which they have racked up their points have differed between the stars. Even in today’s NBA, with the 3-point shot being a fundamental aspect of offenses, DeRozan has yet to average a high volume of shots from deep per contest. He has never averaged more than 3.6 attempts from 3-point range per game, and that came all the way back in the 2017-18 season.

Conversely, Harden has relied heavily on the 3-point shot for much of his pro career. He has buried the third-most 3s of any player in the history of the league, behind only Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry as well as Ray Allen. Plus, Harden has taken as many as 13.2 3-pointers per game in a single season. He averaged that many attempts in the 2018-19 season, when he was a member of the Houston Rockets.

Though Harden and DeRozan are well into their 30s at this stage, they were still very productive players last season. Harden is still one of the premier offensive players in the NBA today, as he averaged 16.6 points and 8.5 assists per game with the Clippers in the 2023-24 regular season. As for DeRozan, he averaged 24.0 points per game with the Bulls but is no longer a member of the team, as he landed with the Kings earlier in the summer as part of a sign-and-trade deal.