James Harden lands here even though one of the seasons in his sample was objectively rated as spectacular.

In his final full year with the Houston Rockets in 2019-20, he was the league’s leading scorer with 34.3 points per game and finished third in MVP voting. That wasn’t a big deal for him at the time, as he had been in the top 10 for the award every year since 2012-13, winning once and finishing in the top five six times.

But the four years since then have been one long downward spiral.

Bouncing between the Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and LA Clippers, Harden’s numbers have declined across the board, with him being disruptive, unavailable and in increasingly poor shape during a period in which he received no fewer than three transfer inquiries.

The 34-year-old has left more teams worse than he found them over the past five years, yet he has achieved tremendous value for each transfer.

The Nets paid three first-round picks and four swaps to get Harden after his first trade demand from the Rockets, which may have been a reasonable price at the time. In return, he gave Brooklyn a total of 80 games over two years before asking for a trade again.

Undeterred by his lack of availability and his quick departure from the Nets, the 76ers brought two more first-rounders and Ben Simmons to the bench.

The Clippers traded away two first-rounders (one to the Oklahoma City Thunder) and made another trade to bring Harden aboard after an ugly holdout in Philadelphia.

That’s an overwhelmingly positive stat for a player who hasn’t come close to what he was with the Rockets and who can’t be trusted to be happy wherever he is.

Oh, and the Clippers concluded last season that it would be wise to give Harden another $70 million guaranteed, even if they let Paul George get away with it on the money front.

Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@gt_hughes) and subscribe to the Hardwood tapping Podcast in which he talks to Bleacher Reports Daniel Favale.