Before his team’s game Saturday in Paris, France, Charlotte Hornets owner and all-time NBA great Michael Jordan took media questions alongside NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Jordan, who doesn’t often speak to reporters and hadn’t done a press conference in nearly a year, addressed a wide range of basketball topics during his chat. One of those was the potential of Houston Rockets guard James Harden breaking his single-season scoring record.
Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game in the 1986-87 season, which is the most by a guard in NBA history and the most by any player in the last 57 years. For much of the 2019-20 season, Harden’s scoring average has run slightly ahead of Jordan’s incredible clip from 33 years ago.
Entering Sunday, Harden (36.1) had fallen just behind Jordan’s pace, owing to his well-documented slump in January.
But considering what Harden did for nearly half a season, it’s certainly still possible that the 2018 MVP could turn things around and make one last run at Jordan’s 1986-87 record. Regarding that possibility, Jordan said:
I think all records are a sense of pride for the work that you put into the game. So yeah, I’m happy to have it. I’m happy to have it because I think it showcases actually how much you practiced and the effort that I put into it. I think what you are seeing in James Harden is the same thing. He’s not doing this off the whim. It’s something that he’s worked at and he’s perfected to the point where the results are starting to show.
The game itself is a fun game to watch. A lot more threes. I think the European players have expanded the style of basketball because of the versatility that they have brought to the game which I think is good for the league, which has increased in scoring. So I think it’s just going to keep getting better, and it forces us as Americans how to play a much more rounded basketball game. That’s what the European players have taught us as individuals in the states.
Jordan was a six-time NBA champion, a five-time MVP, a 14-time All-Star, and a 10-time NBA scoring champion during his storied career. The Hall of Famer is widely considered to be the greatest player in basketball history.
As for Harden, due to a recent thigh bruise, he’s questionable to play in Houston’s next game on Sunday afternoon in Denver. If he does play, that’ll be the next opportunity for Harden to try and snap out of his slump and resume climbing the ranks of the league’s historic scoring lists.
Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Central time.
