Joel Embiid and James Harden Aren't a Top-5 Duo in the NBA

On today's episode, Jason and Producer Rob G hit you with a deep dive into the first few days of the James Harden-Joel Embiid Era in Philadelphia. Harden and Embiid have been putting up astronomical numbers together, prompting many Sixers fans to dub them this generation's Kobe and Shaq. Wait, what?! They're not even a top-5 NBA duo right now (LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker and Chris Paul, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are all definitively better). In fact, you could make a legit argument that Harden and Embiid might not crack the top-10. Duos like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, and Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray might not have the same level of individual talent as Harden and Embiid, but they all seem to fit together better than the Sixers' tandem. The Beard and The Process are otherworldly talents, but history tells us that neither player can perform like the best version of themselves alongside the other given where and how each guy likes to operate on the floor. Sixers fans can bask in the hot start all they want, but until Harden and Embiid prove they can dominate at the same time in the postseason, you can't call them a top-5 dynamic duo in the NBA.

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