James Harden's Training Camp Statement is Everything Clipper Fans Want to Hear

After suffering a crushing first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets last season, the LA Clippers have now gone four consecutive years without winning a playoff series, which undoubtedly continues to raise concerns.

Not only have the Clippers fallen short of any postseason success recently, but their core is concerningly old, with three of their projected starters in year 14 or later. Headlined by a duo of James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers still have high expectations and are doing all they can to not fall short of them.

James Harden's promising statement

Harden, 36, is one of the NBA's best guards as an 11-time All-Star and former MVP, but caught his fair share is flak after an unbelievably disappointing performance in Game 7 against the Nuggets.

James Harden has played in seven Game 7s in his career

He has averaged 19.2 PPG & 7.9 APG on 35.5% FG & 23.2% 3FG

Yikes, man. That is uniquely ugly stuff.
— Carson Breber (@Carsobi) May 4, 2025

Regardless of how his 2024-25 campaign ended, however, Harden is looking ahead to the new season. During training camp, Clippers reporter Joey Linn asked Harden how he builds on last season and how he feels heading into his 17th year in the NBA.

"Even more, just because we gotta get off to a really good start," Harden said. "This is a tough conference that we're in... This year, we know what we have, we've just got to put it together... At the end of the regular season, we want to put ourselves in a position to have a good postseason run. So it’s very, very vital for us to get off to a good start. And it starts with me and Kawhi.”

James Harden said before last year’s training camp that he was in his best shape in years. He said he’s done even more this year.

“Even more. Because we gotta get off to a really good start. This is a tough conference that we’re in… At the end of the regular season we want to… pic.twitter.com/9KyqOxO1DO
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) October 4, 2025

The Clippers made some promising offseason additions in Bradley Beal, John Collins, Brook Lopez, and Chris Paul, but much of the weight still falls on James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Of course, it is promising to hear that Harden is ready to take on that responsibility heading into the new season.

After a lackluster 2023-24 campaign, Harden bounced back to average 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game last season to finish top ten in MVP voting and make All-NBA Third Team. If Harden can have a similar impact this season, along with their new additions and an optimistically healthy Kawhi Leonard, then the Clippers should be able to stay near the top of the Western Conference.

James Harden's promising statement

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