Clippers Have to Find a Way to Reduce James Harden's Minutes

The Los Angeles Clippers are winning, but James Harden is carrying an unsustainable load.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Clippers continued their impressive run with an emphatic win over the Lakers on Thursday. After winning 14 of their last 17 games, the Clippers are in an excellent spot to chase their postseason ambitions. This also puts them in a fascinating spot regarding their stars. James Harden has done an admirable job playing a ton of minutes and carrying the team, but his workload is unsustainable and could come back to bite the Clippers. It may be hard for Ty Lue to change what has been working, but he has no choice but to reduce Harden's minutes in the second half of the season.

James Harden's Unsustainable Workload Will Hurt the Clippers

Harden has always been a high-minutes, high-usage player. Playing 36 minutes per game as the team's primary offensive creator is nothing new for Harden. Being 36 years old, however, is. Harden's usage rate (31.5) is the highest it has been since the 2019-20 season. His minutes per game (35.7) are the seventh-highest in the NBA this season. The only other player over 30 years old in the top-20 of minutes per game is Kevin Durant, and he has a significantly lower usage rate than Harden.

This has begun to take a toll on Harden in recent games. He has not shot above league-average efficiency (58.1% True Shooting) in six of his last seven games. He is shooting 34.8% from the field and 21% from three in that span. His usage rate has hit a season-high rate of 33.5% in January, while his efficiency has taken a dive to 53.6% True Shooting. This inverse correlation between his workload and efficiency should be concerning to the Clippers.

Playing Harden as many minutes as he can handle is an understandable strategy. Having a reliable shot creator and playmaker on the court at all times gives the Clippers the best chance to win. Especially when Kawhi Leonard is hobbled and is on a minutes restriction, relying on Harden makes a ton of sense.

Yet, the Clippers have to be smarter when managing Harden's minutes. There is a history of Harden running out of gas in the playoffs. The Clippers saw that in the last two postseasons when Harden's usage rate, free-throw attempt rate, and efficiency all went down compared to the regular season.

Yes, the Clippers need to make the playoffs. But making the playoffs at the expense of Harden will be pointless. Making sure Harden is fresh for the postseason should be the utmost priority. If that means the Clippers have to be in the play-in rather than a top-six seed, so be it.