James Harden's Sixth Man Award For NBA Is 'No-Brainer'

James Harden lives in the shadow of his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. However, it’s clear that his talent is so good that it’s now impossible to ignore. After taking over the fourth and final game of the team’s first round sweep of the Dallas Mavericks, it was a fitting time to also announce that Harden had handily won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.

It’s an award that is really a “no-brainer” according to Trey Kirby from The Basketball Jones. He writes:

Justifying this vote is pointless, since he’s been one of the best players in the league this season, regardless of rotation quirks. Harden led all bench players in scoring and was second to Manu Ginobili in PER, while playing nearly twice as many games as his Argentinean likeness. He’s, at worst, the third-best player on the Western Conference’s second-best team and he’s often their best player. He’s got the best beard in the league even though his mom wants him to shave. He might be dating Trina. It’s been a good year. So yeah, James Harden is this season’s Sixth Man of the Year. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Some things are impossible to mess up.

For updates and perspective on the Oklahoma City Thunder, head on over to Welcome to Loud City.

James Harden Named Sixth Man Of The Year In Only His Third NBA Season

James Harden was without question the best sixth man in all of the NBA this season and the league officially announced him as the recepient of the Sixth Man of the Year award this afternoon in Oklahoma City.

Harden played in 62 games this season and averaged 16.8 points, 3.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game -- all career highs -- as the first man off the bench this season. This award is a great honor for the third year guard out of Arizona State University.

DailyThunder.com has more on Harden:

Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points, including 115 of 119 first place votes (the other four went to Lou Williams and Taj Gibson). It was pretty much as no-brainer an NBA award as there will be this season. Harden was splendid off the Thunder bench, anchoring one of the best second units in basketball while also establishing himself as one of the best shooting guards in the game.

For updates and perspective on the Oklahoma City Thunder, head on over to Welcome to Loud City.

James Harden Expected To Be Named NBA's Sixth Man Of Year Award

For anyone who had yet to be convinced that James Harden was far and away the best sixth man in the NBA, the closing game of the Oklahoma City Thunder's sweep of the defending champion Dallas Mavericks erased any doubt.