Chandler Parsons: James Harden is NBA's best player this season
Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons says his former teammate, Houston Rockets guard James Harden, is the league’s best player so far this season.
Harden is the NBA’s leading scoring at 27.3 points a game and is also averaging 6.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds for the Rockets (32-13). Harden scored 17 points and had eight assists in the Rockets' 99-94 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday.
Parsons was asked if he thought Harden should be the league's MVP.
“For sure. He's the best player in basketball right now," Parsons said to ESPN.com. "The things he's doing are incredible. The scouting report is focused in on stopping him and you see he's still getting 30 a game. It's impressive.”
Parsons and Harden had a disagreement last summer after Houston declined to match the Mavericks' three-year, $46 million offer sheet to Parsons. Harden said that he and center Dwight Howard “were the cornerstones” of the Rockets and the rest of the players were role players. Parson called that assertion “pretty ridiculous.”
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Parsons says there are no hard feelings toward Harden and that the two have since talked over their differences.
Parsons, who is averaging 15.6 points and had 21 points against Houston on Wednesday, says he isn’t surprised at Harden’s stellar season so far.
"I saw firsthand how talented he is,” Parsons said. “He works extremely hard. He's playing better defense this year. He's leading their team. He's hitting tough shots. There's not much he's not doing."
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