In this YouTube interview, former NBA players Baron Davis and Draymond Green praise James Harden’s influence on modern 3‑point shooting. They note Harden’s recent milestone of passing Ray Allen for second‑all‑time 3‑pointers and argue that Harden, alongside Stephen Curry, has revolutionized the 3‑point shot. Green emphasizes that Harden essentially invented the step‑back three, describing how defenses have been forced to employ extreme tactics—traps, triple‑teams, and even guarding him from behind—similar only to those used on Curry. Both players claim Harden is the best 3‑point shooter in the league, placing Curry in a separate “stratosphere” of shooting excellence. They also reference Harden’s impact on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Finals runs, the Houston Rockets’ dominance (with only the Cleveland Cavaliers and Green’s team able to challenge them), and speculate on Klay Thompson’s potential ranking had he not missed two and a half seasons. The conversation is filled with admiration, personal anecdotes from on‑court battles, and a celebratory tone toward Harden’s career.
Chapters
Also, we gotta give a big shout out to my dog, James Harden, the Beard. James Harden passed Ray Allen to become the second all-time in 3-pointers made. I think Harden, for me, I think Harden and Steph revolutionized the 3-point shot. One, the way Steph did it, you know what I mean? And like that dynamic. But then when you look at the way Harden, you know what I mean? The way Harden kind of created the step back, right? And, and, and, and, really like the 3-point line was his mid-range shot. Seeing the evolution of the 3, being a part of that, you know, how do you feel about, you know, one, Steph and Harden and how they play a role in that?
Well, the evolution of the 3, like you said, I've watched it all happen between them two and also Klay. Yeah, for sure. Klay helped revolutionize that and Dan. But these two in particular, we're gonna talk about, gonna talk about is Steph and James because they carried a little different weight in how they went about it. But number one, shout out to Uno, man.
Yep.
JH, I've had many battles with him, times where I hated him, he hated me. Like, we battle. And that's how it is when you are battling for something special. And we always met trying to get to the NBA Finals. And honestly, James Harden is the Golden State Warriors away from probably at least 3 finals, NBA, 3 other on top of the one he had with OKC, 3 other NBA Finals appearances. When, when James Harden had his Rockets teams, the only team in the league that could beat that Rockets team was us and the Cleveland Cavaliers. There was not a single other team in the league that could compete with that Rockets team.
And— Right.—
it was all predicated on James wiggling, shooting the 3, and kicking out to people. When you talk about revolution— revolutionizing the 3-point shot, before James Harden, a step-back 3 was a sin. Like, you weren't shooting step-back 3s before James Harden.
Yeah.
He got so good at the step-back 3 that Ricky Rubio once guarded him Ricky Rubio did not guard the man in front of him. He stood behind him and guard him and just forced him to the rim so he couldn't shoot a 3.
That was wild.
Just like the only other person in the history of NBA that has been guarded with that type of extremeness is Steph Curry.
Right.
Some of the defenses that I've seen be thrown at Steph, like every possible coverage you can imagine. I've seen be thrown at Steph. The only person remotely close to that is James Harden.
Right.
He's seen traps, he's seen triple teams, he's seen a guy say, "Hey, I'm just gonna let you drive into the paint, but I'm not letting you shoot the step-back 3." Right. Talk about revolutionizing something. And so to see—
Sidestep too.
Exactly. And when James said, "No, I'm number one. Steph's different." I felt, I know exactly what he was saying when he said it. What he was saying in that moment, listen, and I agree with him wholeheartedly because I be looking at the list and I think the same thing. James Harden is Steph Curry away from being the best 3-point shooter we've ever seen in the NBA. But Steph is so far ahead of everyone else that what James was saying is like, no man, don't even put him in this category. Like, just let me be number one at this category because what he do is something totally different than any of us have ever seen, any of us may ever see again.
Totally.
Like, what he do is totally different. So I'm number one and he's somewhere else. And I wholeheartedly actually agree with James' statement. Steph is not number one. Steph is in another stratosphere. He's on the ball. Yeah, like he in a totally different place. He's the sun. Like it ain't even like—
Yeah, he's the galaxy.
There's Steph, and then there's 3-point shooting. James became number 1 at that. I would love to see where Klay would have been in that had he not had the 2 and a half years off, where he would be in that. But James is number 1 and—— Man, well deserved because the way he start shooting that ball and the way he does shoot that ball, man. And it was hard threes. It wasn't like somebody throws, kicked it, man. They were hard threes, man.
There are no open threes for that man.
No, like the only open, the biggest opening, the biggest open three he seen is he created the space and somebody went way over there.
Yeah, no, for sure.
And he just standing there like, "Oh my God, my defender's now 10 feet away from me." Like, man. So I got a lot of love and respect for what James has done in this league, man. To have those battles with him has been like special. And it's great to see him, man. Shout out to James. Congratulations, brother.
