Court Sentiment
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2025-26

James Harden

CLE · G · #1

r/NBA's most hated player.

PPG
23.6
RPG
4.8
APG
8.0
GP
70
Height
6′5″
Weight
220 lb
Age
37
Born
Aug 26, 1989
Experience
16 yrs
From
Arizona State

Verdict

55.3%Negative22,577 comments
28.1%Neutral11,479 comments
16.6%Positive6,758 comments
−39Net sentimentpositive minus negative

n=40,814 comments about James Harden

  1. 1most hated
  2. 59most loved
  3. 9most discussed
  4. 2most argued about

Receipts

What the room said about James Harden, verbatim: the highest-scoring comments in each class.

  1. Exhibit 01GSW flair
    Please stop putting Harden in debates he has no business being involved in. The dude is one of the biggest playoff droppers I've ever seen. You would think a guy who's made the playoffs every year of his career would eventually elevate at some point. Not Harden
    Post-game thread · CLE 97 @ DET 107 · R2 G2 · May 7▲ 944May 8, 2026Source ↗
  2. Exhibit 02HOU flair
    That’s one of the worst postseason chokes I’ve personally ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of playoff Harden. I went from thinking this would be a long series after the third quarter to now thinking it’ll be a gentlemen’s sweep. Knicks in 5.
    Post-game thread · CLE 104 @ NYK 115 · R3 G1 · May 19▲ 781May 20, 2026Source ↗
  3. Exhibit 03no flair
    They still had Wade. The issue was harden wasn't giving you anything on offense that entire stretch and and put up less resistance than a leaf in the wind on defense. You had to get Harden out of there he was legit unplayable to where it might as well be 5 on 4.
    Post · Mike Brown: "It's no secret, we were attacking Harden"▲ 443May 20, 2026Source ↗
Method
A receipt is a top-scoring comment about James Harden that cleared the classifier's confidence bar and a second pass confirming it is about him. No usernames: the site judges players, not commenters.

Fans

Of what r/NBA says about James Harden, his own Cavaliers fans are 52% negative, rival fans 55%, unflaired commenters 57%. Among the 26 fanbases with at least 200 comments, Pistons fans are hardest on him at 73% negative and Rockets fans kindest at 27% positive.

51.7%Own fansCLE flair · 1,905 comments
54.6%Rival fansevery other flair · 21,939 comments
56.7%Unflairedno flair · 16,970 comments

Who hates him most

  1. 1DET fans72.8%+18
  2. 2IND fans64.9%+11
  3. 3NYK fans59.8%+5
  4. 4BKN fans59.4%+5
  5. 5MIL fans58.6%+4

Who defends him

  1. 1HOU fans27.4%+10
  2. 2WAS fans25.2%+8
  3. 3LAC fans24.4%+7
  4. 4PHX fans24.3%+7
  5. 5ATL fans21.8%+4
Method
A fanbase is the flair its commenters wear. Flairs with fewer than 200 comments about James Harden are left out of the lists; the tick is his rate across every flaired comment, from summed counts, never a mean of rates.

Rooms

James Harden was talked about most on the front page: 16,803 of his 40,814 comments, −32 net sentiment against −39 across his season. His harshest room was the daily chat thread, −61 on under 1% of his comments; his warmest news posts, −30 on 15% of his comments. The game threads ran 24 points harsher than the front page: his play was graded live.

Game threads68.912.911,572
Post-game threads55.221.62,116
Daily chat threadHarshest69.98.7206
Front page49.617.816,803
Highlights51.818.83,459
NewsWarmest47.116.86,229
Lowlights57.119.3336
Method
A room is the kind of post a comment sat under: a game thread, the front page, a highlight. A room is drawn when it holds at least 200 comments about James Harden; left out here: Discussion posts (58), Injury posts (22). The bar is the room's share of his comments, its split the room's sentiment. Harshest and warmest are by net sentiment, positive minus negative, from summed counts, never a mean of rates.

Timeline

Over 4-week windows, the negative share of comments about James Harden ran between 38% and 67%. His worst week was the week of May 18, 70% negative of 7,299 comments; his best the week of Nov 17, 32% positive.

Method
Lines are 4-week rolling rates from summed counts (Σ negative ÷ Σ comments), drawn only where the window holds at least 30 comments. Dots are single weeks, sized by n. Bands follow the season calendar.

Games

The room talked about James Harden in 41 of his 90 games, at least 20 comments each. It was harsher after losses: net sentiment −65 in losses (75% negative, 10% positive) against −38 in wins (59% negative, 21% positive), on a season net sentiment of −39.

−38In wins59% neg · 21% pos · 4,593 comments
−65In losses75% neg · 10% pos · 7,456 comments
−39His season55% neg · 17% pos · 40,814 comments
DatePhaseOppResultMinPtsRebAstFG3PTOV+/−P/R/ACommentsVerdict
May 25R3 G4R3 G4vs NYKL 93–130L 93–1303312422-80-65-1912/4/212,806
May 23R3 G3R3 G3vs NYKL 108–121L 108–1214119558-151-76-819/5/58,118
May 21R3 G2R3 G2@ NYKL 93–109L 93–1093218626-153-70-2218/6/27,682
May 19R3 G1R3 G1@ NYKL 104–115L 104–1154215435-161-86-615/4/319,144
May 17R2 G7R2 G7@ DETW 125–94W 125–94369562-100-61+319/5/617,494
May 15R2 G6R2 G6vs DETL 94–115L 94–1153723746-133-88-523/7/49,941
May 13R2 G5R2 G5@ DETW 117–113W 117–1134330868-213-106+1130/8/612,686
May 11R2 G4R2 G4vs DETW 112–103W 112–10337240115-145-92+924/0/116,878
May 9R2 G3R2 G3vs DETW 116–109W 116–1094019278-143-73+819/2/77,027
May 7R2 G2R2 G2@ DETL 97–107L 97–1073710633-130-44-1510/6/37,260

Bad nights get punished: across 41 games the room talked about, net sentiment rises with James Harden's Game Score.

−100−75−50−250+25+50+75+10001020304050his season −39L @ GSW 79–98: Game Score 12.4, net sentiment −39 from 82 commentsL vs OKC 107–126: Game Score 20.1, net sentiment −11 from 63 commentsL vs ATL 102–105: Game Score 30.6, net sentiment −55 from 44 commentsL vs DEN 116–130: Game Score 18.8, net sentiment −43 from 23 commentsW @ DAL 133–127: Game Score 38.8, net sentiment −4 from 46 commentsL @ BOS 118–121: Game Score 29.7, net sentiment −9 from 44 commentsL @ PHI 108–110: Game Score 16.6, net sentiment −31 from 39 commentsL @ ORL 101–129: Game Score 26.3, net sentiment −35 from 23 commentsW @ CHA 131–116: Game Score 47.2, net sentiment +20 from 74 commentsL @ LAL 118–135: Game Score 21.9, net sentiment −19 from 140 commentsL vs DAL 110–114: Game Score 21.7, net sentiment −52 from 23 commentsL @ MIN 106–109: Game Score 29.4, net sentiment −29 from 28 commentsW vs LAL 103–88: Game Score 15.4, net sentiment −30 from 23 commentsW @ WAS 110–106: Game Score 33.6, net sentiment −17 from 24 commentsW vs LAL 112–104: Game Score 10.2, net sentiment −20 from 59 commentsL @ DEN 109–122: Game Score 20.4, net sentiment −48 from 27 commentsW @ SAC 132–126: Game Score 20.5, net sentiment +21 from 38 commentsW @ DEN 119–117: Game Score 21.6, net sentiment +6 from 111 commentsW @ CHA 118–113: Game Score 15.6, net sentiment +33 from 21 commentsL @ OKC 113–121: Game Score 15.9, net sentiment −28 from 58 commentsW vs NYK 109–94: Game Score 10.2, net sentiment −16 from 37 commentsL vs BOS 98–109: Game Score 17.6, net sentiment −26 from 46 commentsW vs ATL 122–116: Game Score 11.2, net sentiment −25 from 24 commentsW vs TOR 126–113: Game Score 17.4, net sentiment −13 from 151 commentsW vs TOR 115–105: Game Score 24.8, net sentiment +5 from 88 commentsL @ TOR 104–126: Game Score 5.7, net sentiment −28 from 53 commentsL @ TOR 89–93: Game Score 10.9, net sentiment −54 from 162 commentsW vs TOR 125–120: Game Score 18.8, net sentiment −61 from 223 commentsL @ TOR 110–112: Game Score 17.1, net sentiment −51 from 281 commentsW vs TOR 114–102: Game Score 15.8, net sentiment −60 from 513 commentsL @ DET 101–111: Game Score 16.2, net sentiment −61 from 571 commentsL @ DET 97–107: Game Score 1.8, net sentiment −73 from 1,137 commentsW vs DET 116–109: Game Score 15.5, net sentiment +12 from 542 commentsW vs DET 112–103: Game Score 25.6, net sentiment −27 from 276 commentsW @ DET 117–113: Game Score 20.2, net sentiment −58 from 1,237 commentsL vs DET 94–115: Game Score 15.2, net sentiment −73 from 832 commentsW @ DET 125–94: Game Score 4.7, net sentiment −51 from 1,106 commentsL @ NYK 104–115: Game Score 2.4, net sentiment −70 from 2,251 commentsL @ NYK 93–109: Game Score 14.3, net sentiment −66 from 422 commentsL vs NYK 108–121: Game Score 10.5, net sentiment −59 from 401 commentsL vs NYK 93–130: Game Score 5.3, net sentiment −76 from 706 comments
r = 0.47 · 41 games · win loss