With Chris Paul’s return to the Los Angeles Clippers this summer, one of the most dominant duos of the past decade has been reunited. Back in Houston, Paul and James Harden were arguably the best one-two punch in the entire league, very likely the strongest backcourt pairing alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Those were the years when both were in their prime, CP3 was the floor general, while The Beard put up some of the most dominant scoring seasons ever seen from a single player. Now, heading into the 2025-26 season, Harden is expected to be the team’s starting point guard, with Paul coming off the bench as his backup.
According to Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, Tyronn Lue says the Clippers aim to reduce James Harden’s usage and workload this season, and they’re in a position to do so due to Kawhi Leonard’s health and offseason additions.
“We don’t want him to have to be in 60 pick-and-rolls every game,” Lue said at Media Day.
Why Harden’s usage needs to be reduced
For the 11-time All-Star, this will be his 17th season. At 36 years old, and playing on the oldest roster ever assembled in league history, it’s clear Harden has entered the stage of his career where he can no longer carry the entire offensive load by himself. Still, despite all of the offensive star power, the Clippers’ main play remains the pick-and-roll between Ivica Zubac and Harden.
According to data from NBA.com, Harden ranked near the top of the league as the primary ball handler in pick-and-roll situations, averaging 6.4 such possessions per game, which accounted for 27.0 percent of the team’s total possessions, resulting in 0.84 points per possession.
Now, with a rim-runner like John Collins, the type of big man Harden has always thrived with, plus Brook Lopez, one of the most dominant pick-and-pop players in recent years, and the always reliable Zubac, the Clippers will likely lean on that play even more.
Zubac himself, in an exclusive interview with Basketball Network after last season, spoke about the chemistry he built with the 2018 MVP.
“From day one, when he joined us, he’d pull me aside and say, ‘Come on, let’s go do 20 minutes of pick-and-roll against the coaches, just 2-on-2.’ They’d switch up coverages — sometimes trap, sometimes hedge, drop, or switch. We’d read the defense and play against it. And we did that every day for 15–20 minutes. You could see the results in the games — we had answers for any kind of defense thrown at us. We were ready for everything” the Croatian big man stressed.
The return of Chris Paul
It’s evident that Harden is at his best as a primary pick-and-roll ball handler, but Lue’s point makes sense. At this stage of his career, it would be unwise to overburden one of the team’s most important players with too many minutes and much time on the ball.
It’s not that Harden can still handle that workload, but the season is long. That’s why Paul’s minutes will be crucial. Last season, at the age of 39, Paul played all 82 games with the San Antonio Spurs, demonstrating that he’s still more than capable of meeting the league’s highest demands. That makes it clear Harden will have strong support at the point guard position in the upcoming season.