James Edward Harden Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA history. In 2021, Harden was honored as one of the league's top 75 players by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for their team and steal the ball on defense. Some teams ask their shooting guards to bring up the ball as well; these players are known colloquially as combo guards. A player who can switch between playing shooting guard and small forward is known as a swingman. In the NBA, shooting guards usually range from 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) to 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) while in the WNBA, shooting guards tend to be between 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m).