Patrick Beverley named James Harden the smartest basketball player he has ever played with

​Patrick Beverley shared a locker room with some of the greatest basketball minds in the modern NBA. He’s also spent enough time guarding the league’s best to know which ones operate one step ahead.

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Still, in Pat Bev’s eyes, James Harden stands above everyone else. Beverley played with the Beard for five seasons in Houston and had a front-row seat to the latter’s rise from an All-Star to an MVP-level superstar.

But more than putting up sheer counting stats, Harden’s brilliance goes above and beyond. Pat actually believes his former teammate changed how basketball is played.

Harden’s IQ was something else

Beard’s improvement from a sixth man in OKC to the first option in Houston was a sight to behold. Given the keys to the franchise, Harden quickly showed that his game could scale with added responsibility. His scoring exploded, and so did his ability to dictate what happened around him.​

James figured out how to manipulate spacing, the rules, and situations to create advantages almost at will. And as defenses adjusted, so did Harden. He was always one step ahead, making him one of the most prolific offensive forces not only in his era, but in NBA history.

According to Pat Bev, that didn’t happen by chance.

​“Basketball-wise, though, when it came to him working hard, I ain’t never seen nobody work hard like him at the time,” Beverley said on the “Out the Mud” podcast. “To me, Kawhi (Leonard) is my number one; James is my number 2.”

Harden immediately reaped the benefits of his hard work. Through grinding and working on his game, the mental side of basketball intuitively came around.​

“When it comes to IQ in basketball, he’s the smartest basketball player I’ve ever played with in my entire life,” Bev added.

Tony Allen, the podcast host, wanted more explanation. After all, he couldn’t believe how Harden developed from a bench guy with one action run for him in his Thunder stint to somebody who controlled everything in Houston due to his court smarts.

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Well, Allen got his reply.

“You got to think, TA, I’ve never been around a better passer in my entire life. I played with all of them. TA, he throw you the ball… and you don’t have to fix the seams. Y’all hear what I’m saying?… He throw you the ball every time in your shooting pocket and you don’t have to fix the seams, bro. You could just catch it and let it fly. Every single pass he ever threw to me, it was on the seams,” explained the three-time All-NBA Defensive Team member.

“This is what I’m talking about: elite. Pick and roll? Statistically, he’s the best pick-and-roll basketball player to ever play the game. He changed the game three times,” added Beverley.

Did PatBev take things too far?

Showering Harden with such praise says a lot about the Beard’s extraordinary basketball acumen. As Beverley noted, he played with some of the best, from LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Yet he considered his former Rockets teammate the guy with the highest basketball IQ.

According to Beverley, one of the main reasons he spoke so highly of Harden is how Beard changed the game three times. ​

Now, “Mr. 94 Feet” didn’t elaborate, but he may have a point. Harden weaponized the step-back 3, pushed foul-drawing rules to the limit, and ran an isolation-heavy offense built around his ability to create efficient shots.

Then again, Beverley was speaking from his personal experience, not settling an all-time debate. He even named Will Bynum as his personal GOAT in the same podcast because of the impact the veteran guard had on him as a mentor.

That says plenty about how Pat approaches these conversations. His choices stem from what he has personally seen and experienced, and Harden clearly left a lasting impression during their time with the Rockets. It’s not too crazy to say Beard helped put Bev on the map as a legit NBA player. There’s nothing wrong with returning the favor.

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This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 4:43 PM.