The honeymoon might be over with James Harden. The former MVP suffered a thumb fracture in his non-dominant hand, and while it's not expected to be that serious and he could be fully healthy for the playoffs, it's still a big blow.
That said, the 36-year-old guard is reportedly planning to play through it. Instead of taking a backseat and hoping the rest of the team gets the job done while he works his way back to full strength, he's going to endure the pain and just roll with it.
That's something Cleveland Cavaliers fans urged Darius Garland to do for years, but to no avail. On top of being injury-prone, the former Cavs point guard often erred on the side of caution and rarely played while banged-up.
Despite his age, James Harden is much more durable than Darius Garland
Not many teams would've traded a homegrown All-Star for a guy who's 10 years older and has switched teams multiple times. That said, Garland has never played a full season, and he's only been able to suit up for 26 games this year. Harden, on the other hand, missed just three games at 35 years old last season, and he's up to 51 this year.
Harden has played the third-most games in the entire league since the 2009-10 season. He has played at least 76 games in eight of his first 11 seasons, and hovered around 36-38 minutes per game in his prime.
Also, this isn't the first time that he's chosen to play through injury. He's done that in the playoffs three times, including suiting up with a torn hamstring and still playing every minute of overtime in Game 7 for the Brooklyn Nets.
Harden gets a lot of hate for the way he's forced his way out of teams and his lack of playoff success, and rightly so. But even with all the fuss about his questionable work ethic, restless nature and constant partying, teams can always count on him to suit up unless it's humanly impossible.
Availability is, sometimes, the best of abilities. Garland may have given this team a lead guard for more years, but that doesn't do much when he can't be trusted to stay on the court. Their window might be much shorter now, but they know Harden will be there no matter what.