James Harden reacts to Gilbert Arenas' son Alijah Arenas' IG tribute celebrating NBA veteran's 3-pt milestone
On Sunday, James Harden surpassed Ray Allen on the NBA's all-time 3-point leaderboard after making his 2,974th bucket from downtown against the Utah Jazz. Now, Harden sits only behind Steph Curry, who has a career 3,782 3-pointers at the time of publication.
While Harden doesn't think he'll catch Curry on the all-time standings, the feat landed him plenty of praise from fellow players and fans. In a post on his Instagram story, Gilbert Arenas' son, Alijah, shared a video counting all of Harden's threes.
Arenas tagged Harden along with the video and posted an emoji. In response, Harden reposted Alijah Arenas' story along with an emoji of his own.
Before Harden reposted Alijah Arenas' story, the former MVP shared congratulatory messages from Steph Curry and Kevin Garnett on his Instagram story. While KG congratulated Harden with a saluting emoji, Curry wrote that the two 2009 draft classmates did pretty well for themselves.
James Harden credits Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook with setting a good example when he joined the league
When the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted James Harden with the third pick of the 2009 NBA draft, Kevin Durant was preparing for his third year in the league while Russell Westbrook his second.
It didn't take the trio long to find their rhythm, with KD notably assisting Harden on his first career 3-pointer. After a first-round elimination from the playoffs in Harden's rookie year, the trio led the Thunder to a Western Conference Finals appearance the next season, where they lost to the Dallas Mavericks.
Durant, Westbrook and Harden led OKC to the NBA Finals the following year, where the Big 3 Miami Heat defeated them. That summer, Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets.
After surpassing Ray Allen on the NBA's 3-point leaderboard, Harden explained how the example set by Durant and Westbrook impacted him. While speaking with media members post-game, he said:
"They set the blueprint. When I got there, they already had the blueprint of how to work, how to be a professional in this league, and so all I did was just fall right in line, you know what I mean? And to where it's like every single day, you work your butt off ... And those three years really helped me in my NBA career because it just gave me a ground base to where I can go off of. ... Shout out to KD, shout out to Russ and an entire Oklahoma City organization for that ground building that they gave me.”
While the Thunder's famous big three never won a title together, Harden's place in NBA history can never be denied.