James Harden's Insane 3/4 Court Alley Oop Pass To Evan Mobley Is Easily One Of The Greatest Passes In NBA History

Jason Miller. Getty Images.

If there's one thing that I've always tried to make crystal clear to people as to why watching NBA basketball is worth your time, it's the fact that at any given moment, you could very well see something you've never seen before. It can happen at any moment, in any game, and be done by any player. That's the beauty of the NBA. Cool shit happens.

To help illustrate my point, I would like to bring to your attention this near full-court alley oop pass by James Harden to Evan Mobley, who had leaked out and gotten behind the defense on the break

I'm not even trying to be hyperbolic, that's one of the greatest passes/plays I have ever seen watching the NBA, and I'm starting to get old as shit. After the initial shock wore off from what I had just seen, I started to think what other alley oop could come close to that play? Is that one of the greatest passes in NBA history? 

I could really only think of one play that felt similar

Wade to LeBron

Now, there are a few differences here that I feel like need to be addressed. For starters, Wade is MUCH further back. Harden made his lob from essentially the FT line. Wade was basically on the low block. He also did it one handed, which maybe that is actually a strength for him while Harden's two handed pass was insane in it's own right, so call that a wash. 

Working in the Harden play's favor is the fact that Mobley finished his with a dunk, whereas LeBron finished with a layup. I get it, we're splitting hairs here, but the finish matters. I don't make the rules. Does the Mobley finish compared to LeBron's finish trump the different from the distance and how Wade threw his pass? Only you can decide for yourself. I tend to lean toward the Harden play because fuck the Heat, and Harden is a fellow Sun Devil, so if it's a tie, then the tie goes to the one who I shared a campus with while at ASU. 

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Either way, it's on the very very very short list of craziest in game passes you're ever going to see in an NBA game, and it's even higher on the list if we're just talking alley oops. It's simply an insane play, and I feel comfortable saying it's one of the best passes in NBA history.

And it came on a random Sunday afternoon in early March. That's the beauty of the NBA at its best right there.