James Harden clearly has game on the court—but apparently not as much as he thinks off the court, at least, according to his girlfriend.
In a clip from season 2 of Netflix’s Starting 5 docuseries, the Los Angeles Clippers star and his girlfriend, Paije Speights, each recall how they first met.
As Harden remembers it, he had seen Speights before but didn’t have her contact information, so he asked a friend for her number. Speights recalled Harden calling her about five times before she finally picked up at eight o’clock in the morning.
“I didn’t even know he had my number. I don’t know who gave him my number,” she confessed. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Meanwhile, Harden corroborated her account, admitting, “She don’t know who I am, what’s going on, none of that,” at the time of the cold call.
Harden said they spoke for an hour and a half during their first phone conversation. “I got game,” he added. “I know how to put words together to where it makes sense.”
Speights then jokingly roasted Harden, saying, “James does not have any game, at all.”
The Netflix docuseries also captured Harden addressing the viral moment when he gave a hilarious reaction to his girlfriend catching a tossed wedding bouquet in 2024.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Harden said in the clip, adding that he didn’t know what the bouquet tradition means. Harden was visibly shocked during the moment, but his girlfriend embraced him with a hug. The couple were attending Rajon Rondo’s wedding to Latoia Rondo last year when the moment occurred.
Complex recently ranked Harden as the 25th best player in the league in our list of The 50 Best NBA Players Right Now.
