Clippers Rumors: James Harden to Debut vs. Knicks, Start with Russell Westbrook
James Harden reportedly will make his Los Angeles Clippers debut against the New York Knicks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
Per that report, Harden is expected to start at guard alongside Russell Westbrook, with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard at forward and Ivica Zubac at the 5.
There are going to be some major question marks about that starting 5. The first will be the floor-spacing concerns when Harden is on the ball, as neither Westbrook—a career 30.6 percent shooter from three, though he's at 38.9 percent from three through five games this season—or Zubac (he's attempted a total of 12 threes in eight seasons) space the floor in any meaningful way.
Another concern is that both Harden and Westbrook have traditionally served as primary ball-handlers in their careers, making their backcourt fit a dubious one.
It should be noted that in 55 games together with the Houston Rockets in the 2019-20 season the pair had a 5.6 net rating on the court together, per NBA.com, but just a 110.2 offensive rating. For context, Harden had a 114 offensive rating in total that season and the team's overall offensive rating was 112.5.
In other words, Harden and Westbrook sharing the court bogged down the offense, at least somewhat, and both players asked for—and eventually received—trades out of Houston the following season.
Harden and Westbrook also played together for the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in their careers, but Westbrook started at point guard and Harden came off the bench as a sixth man. Since those days, Harden has generally served as the primary ball-handler for the Rockets, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
The potential issues of both Harden and Westbrook being accustomed to having the ball in their hands is only compounded by George and Leonard being excellent isolation scorers. Finding an offensive flow with this particular starting personnel will be an important, and potentially daunting, task for head coach Tyronn Lue.
Eventually, the Clippers may need to consider substituting Westbrook in the starting lineup with either Norman Powell or Terance Mann, which would offer more lineup balance and give Westbrook the chance to be the starring attraction on the second unit.
Having an abundance of stars and finding a way for them to coexist in a complementary way is one of those "fun" problems for head coaches. Lue is up to his neck in fun this season.
