James Harden is being treated unfairly by NBA referees

After a shaky start to the season, the Brooklyn Nets have now won five games in a row. With Kyrie Irving still not playing, Kevin Durant and James Harden have had to lead the way.

Durant has been putting up MVP-caliber numbers this year. His shooting splits are ridiculous, and he just looks absolutely dominant every time he steps onto the floor.

Meanwhile, Harden got off to a less successful start to the season. He has picked things up since, but he’s still not shooting very well from the field.

He is one of many players who has been greatly affected by the new NBA rule changes this season. However, the refs seem to be taking things a bit too far with Harden in particular.

Love him or hate him, NBA referees are treating James Harden unfairly

Over the years, Harden has become known for getting to the free-throw line. This season, he’s only taking 4.8 free throws per game, which is the fewest he’s taken in 10 years.

On paper that sounds ideal for the game as a whole. Instead of trying to draw fouls, players will be more likely to try and score whilst being aggressive. It also encourages a physical brand of defense.

In the case of James Harden, though, NBA referees may be overcompensating a bit. They’re so used to seeing him sell foul calls that they aren’t calling fouls when he actually does get hacked.

There have been plenty of great examples of this throughout the course of the season. The most prominent ones came against the Pacers earlier this year, and then more recently against the Raptors.

The one vs. Toronto saw Gary Trent Jr. attempt to intentionally foul James Harden in order to keep him from scoring. Instead, the referees just let the play continue.

The idea behind the new rules is clearly to deter offensive players from non-basketball plays. However, that has led to players like Harden, who were previously given a lot of whistles, to have the tide turned on him.

James Harden went from getting an unfair whistle called in favor of him to getting an unfair whistle called against him. A middle ground has to be found.

Some could say it’s karma that James Harden isn’t getting as many foul calls, but realistically, some of these non-calls are ridiculous. Love him or hate him, defenders have been hacking Harden a lot this year, and the fouls need to be called.