Similar career statistics, similar career win%. They’re comparable players. It’s not opinion. Statistically, they are very similar. It also helps to make almost an apples to apples comparison because they played a similar amount of games in both their regular season and post season careers, and their careers overlapped about a decade, so roughly the same era.
James Harden regular season career:
1000 games 651 wins, 349 losses (.651 win percentage)
24.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 7.0 APG
.442 FG, .363 3P, .609 TS%
24.4 PER, 158 WS, .218 WS/48, 6.7 BPM, 76 VORP
Dwyane Wade regular season career:
1054 games, 611 wins, 443 losses (.580 win percentage)
22.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.4 APG
.480 FG, .293 3P, .549 TS%
23.5 PER, 120.7 WS, .162 WS/48, 5.0 BPM, 6.8 VORP
James Harden post season career:
160 games, 85 wins, 75 losses (.531 win percentage)
22.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 6.3 APG
.424 FG, .338 3P, .585 TS%
22.0 PER, 20.6 WS, .172 WS/48, 6.2 BPM, 11.9 VORP
Dwyane Wade post season career:
177 games, 105 wins, 72 losses (.593 win percentage)
22.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 4.9 APG
.474 FG, .338 3P, .549 TS%
22.4 PER, 21.6 WS, .155 WS/48, 5.3 BPM, 12.3 VORP
Again, my first post in this thread, I said I leaned Dwyane Wade. I’ve just been arguing that it’s close. Wade’s better defense didn’t give him a significant better plus-minus, regular season or post season, which suggests that the difference in defense didn’t impact winning as much as you might believe. Sure, Wade has the 2006 run. And again, my opinion is that Shaq and the free throws in the Finals de-values it some. Not discredit, not take away. Just de-value. And I don’t give Wade much credit for his 2012, 2013 sidekick les. You’re free to do so. I’m not. So even when we take into consideration Harden’s playoff chokes, I personally don’t think there’s some huge gulf between them as players.
You’re free to disagree. But that’s my opinion. And there’s the “support” you asked for.