​James Harden gets a lot of praise for his scoring ability, and rightfully so, but let's not forget about the fact that he might just be the best passer in the NBA.





The nine-year guard out of Arizona State is leading the league in assists per game with 9.8.





Harden's assist stat usually gets somewhat overshadowed by his league leading scoring numbers this season at 31.7 a game, but Harden is a straight up dimer, as much as he's also a bucket getter.

James Harden is the 1st player this season to dish out 200 assists. pic.twitter.com/c7jkVA4KoN — NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 30, 2017

It's always a little bit of a debate whether or not Harden is a point guard, but how about we just quell that argument and give Harden the title of best distributer in the league regardless of position.





Harden is the first player in the 2017-18 season to get to 200 assists, and that means he did so before other such "true point guards" as Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Steph Curry and Kyle Lowry.





Harden is not new to the assist leaders category, as he not only finished first in the league last season in the stat at 11.2 a game, but also finished sixth in the league in the 2015 season before that.





Harden is in rare air with his scoring and passing prowess this season.

Per @ESPNStatsInfo: James Harden can join Tiny Archibald and Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average 35 points and 10 assists in a month (min: 10 games). Needs 30 and 9 tomorrow vs. Pacers. — Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 29, 2017

Harden came frustratingly close to joining the legends as he finished Wednesday's game against the Pacers with only 29 points and 10 assists.





Harden needs to be respected as the best distributor in the game of basketball.











































