Dwyane Wade responds to Patrick Beverley’s “James Harden is better” claim

The NBA’s greatest of all time — or GOAT — debate is one of the most discussed topics among basketball fans. Another one that’s continued to creep up in recent years is the debate between Dwyane Wade and James Harden.

Fans always have these debates amongst themselves, but former NBA guard Patrick Beverley has now gone on the record to state that he believes his former Houston Rockets teammate James Harden is a better player than Dwyane Wade.

“I eff with D-Wade, that’s the homie,” Beverley said during a recent episode of his podcast. “But when it comes to a player — like, you’re talking about a player that can score it, a player that can get to the free-throw line, a player that can pass it out of the pick-and-roll. A lot of people were going under on D-Wade’s pick-and-rolls. I ain’t gon’ front, you feel me? A lot of people were letting D-Wade have that.

“Yes, does D-Wade have a clutch gene? You’re absolutely right. Yes, at times have we seen D-Wade be more clutch than James Harden? Yes we have. But when we talk about a better player — like, a better player — James Harden is a better player than Dwyane Wade. And people get it confused because they think about D-Wade wont a championship and you cant take that away, but a championship is a team thing. That’s a team award. I’m talking about individual award. Who is a better player. And individually, you have to go with James Harden. No disrespect to [Allen Iverson] and Dwyane Wade, I don’t even think it’s close. I think James Harden really might be one of the best scorers this game has ever seen. I think we need to applaud that.”

Pat Bev says James Harden is a better player than Dwyane Wade, and it’s not really close

“You’re talking about a player that can score it—a player that can get to the free-throw line, a player that can pass it out of the pick-and-roll. A lot of people were going under on… pic.twitter.com/RC6e9Y889C

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 18, 2026

A little over a week later, Dwyane Wade has responded with his own thoughts on the Wade-Harden debate on his podcast.

“I don’t understand how you can have a conversation about me and state facts when you never as good as me,” Dwyane Wade said. “Pat Bev just came out and just talked about me and James [Harden]. Another conversation about me and James.

“Pat just came out definitively, he was definitive in saying, ‘James Harden is better than Dwyane Wade.’ He was very definitive in his answer and I was just like, Pat, where is your facts to say that someone is better? Or just come out and say, what I personally like or the style of play I like to see is SYX. Don’t you ever fix your mouth to say somebody is better than me when you wasn’t better than me at anything in this game of basketball. You can’t do that. When you talk about a better player, you’re talking about every aspect of the game of basketball. You know how good I was in a lot of aspects of the game?!”

Dwyane Wade responds to Pat Bev saying James Harden is better than him:

“I don’t understand how you can have a conversation about me and state facts when you never as good as me… Pat, where is your facts to say that someone is better?… don’t you ever fix your mouth to say… pic.twitter.com/6K5HMyUAJI

— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod (@big_business_) March 27, 2026

For his career, James Harden is averaging 24.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from three. At his peak during the 2018-19 season, Harden averaged 36.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 2.0 steals per game

Dwyane Wade finished his career averaging 22 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from three. At his peak during the 2008-09 season, Wade averaged 30.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game with the Heat.

Wade is a three-time NBA Champion, a Finals MVP, 13-time NBA All-Star, eight-time All-NBA team member, three-time All-Defensive team member, a one-time NBA scoring champion, and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall-of-Fame.

For his career, James Harden is an 11-time NBA All-Star, an MVP, an eight-time All-NBA team member, a three-time scoring champion, a two-time assist champion, and will be a member of the Hall-of-Fame when it’s all said and done.

The post Dwyane Wade responds to Patrick Beverley’s “James Harden is better” claim appeared first on ClutchPoints.