James Harden’s name has long been synonymous with his beard, ice-cold three-point shooting, and controversies. Early in the 2020-2021 season, however, The Beard’s name started trending online for another reason: his weight. So, is James Harden fat?
A search through X (formerly Twitter) will give you thousands of instances where the former NBA MVP was being fat-shamed for showing up to training camp looking a little bit, shall we say, voluptuous.
The story doesn’t end there, though. When Harden got shipped off to the Brooklyn Nets, he showed up looking almost miraculously svelte. The speed with which he lost his extra pounds led to one of the wildest conspiracy theories in recent memory. Millions wondered, “Did James Harden wear a fat suit to get traded from the Houston Rockets?”
Also Read: 10 People In The NBA That James Harden FREAKING HATES!
1. What Has Been James Harden’s Weight Over Time
James Harden looks almost unrecognizable in pictures from his college days. The superstar was skinny and clean-shaven as an Arizona State Sun Devil. Like many other NBA players, Harden bulked up during his transition to professional ball. He put on enough muscle to weigh 220 pounds.
His first documented struggle with weight came during the 2016 offseason when he broke his ankle and couldn’t work out. That season, the Rockets got off to a slow 4-7 start and sacked head coach Kevin McHale.
McHale blamed his exit on James Harden showing up overweight. Sitting around and nursing his ankle caused the star to pack a few extra pounds.
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Harden lost his injury weight and returned to top physical form until the 2020 offseason. By then, the star was becoming disgruntled with how things were going in Houston. The Beard began demanding a trade to a Finals contender. He wanted out of Houston so badly that he turned down $50 million to stay with the team.
That year, Harden showed up late to the Rockets’ camp and lost several extra days of training time to mandatory COVID-19 protocols. When he finally appeared on the court, fans and reporters alike were aghast at what they saw.
The formerly fit MVP gained about 40 extra pounds during the offseason, and the extra weight affected his game. His first few weeks of the 2020-2021 season with the Rockets were some of the worst of his career. His scoring suffered, and the extra donut around his waist slowed the speed and agility he’s known for.
2. How Fans Reacted To Fat James Harden
Fat James Harden memes took over the internet for a brief, golden moment in 2020. Jokesters compared Harden to Fat Albert and Mac from the show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
Seeing that their star wasn’t motivated to perform anymore, the Rockets signed a blockbuster deal to send Harden to Brooklyn to form a superteam with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The internet exploded again when they saw what Harden looked like in his Nets debut. Somehow, Harden had transformed back into the slender 220-pound scoring machine he used to be. Thus, the James Harden fat suit conspiracy theory was born.
3. What Is The Fat Suit Theory?
The main premise of the fat suit theory is that Harden shed an impossible amount of weight in the two days between leaving the Rockets and starting his tenure at the Nets. Pictures from a few days before the trade show show that the Beard looked pretty rotund. By this logic, Harden wore a fat suit to push the Rockets into trading him, then ditched it the second he got what he wanted.
Harden’s rapid physical transformation is remarkable. For most of us who struggle to lose even a couple of pounds, the idea that someone could lose 30 pounds over a few days seems ludicrous.
Harden is also a crafty player who will do anything to get what he wants. His reputation as a slick operator added to the credibility of the fat suit theory. However, while somewhat plausible, this theory has a few holes, too.
NBA players are constantly supervised by team physicians who monitor their health and fitness. It seems like it would be tough for Harden to hide a fat suit from Rockets team doctors. Harden would also have had to figure out how to hide his fat suit from his teammates while changing in the locker room.
4. How James Harden Got Fat?
By the time he showed up to the Rockets training camp, James Harden had spent an entire offseason demanding to be traded and getting frustrated with the team’s front office. He vented his frustrations by partying, drinking, and eating a lot.
Confirmation of Harden’s excessive lifestyle during the 2020 offseason can be found by quickly scrolling through his Instagram posts from that summer. We all know how quickly eating rich food, drinking a lot, and skipping the gym can make you put on the pounds.
5. How He Might Have Gotten Skinny?
Harden’s offseason lifestyle explains his rapid weight gain, but what about the rapid weight loss? It may seem impossible to drop weight quickly, but crazier things have happened, especially in sports.
Wrestlers and boxers often drop more than 10 pounds in the days before a match by employing extreme measures like saunas, fasting, and dehydration. In the NBA, players can lose incredible amounts of weight during the course of one game just by sweating it out.
With this in mind, it’s possible that Harden went through some kind of intense regimen to lose weight before his Nets debut. Cutting salt from his diet and sweating a lot, especially if he was carrying a lot of water weight, could have reduced his bloated look.
After playing two seasons with the Nets, Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he paired up with Joel Embiid. After playing a full season at the Sixers, following his mid-season trade, Harden joined the LA Clippers in the 2023-24 season to form a superteam with the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook.
Harden currently weighs 220 lbs, which is decent considering his 6 feet 5 inches athletic stature. Ultimately, we’ll never know whether James Harden was fat or pulled off the greatest prank in NBA history. If he was wearing a fat suit, hats off to a god-level bit of deception.
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