This one feels a little off the wall, especially since James Harden was born in Los Angeles. But he may have blown his cover in a recent profile from The Ringer's Andrew Greif.
"Growing up in Los Angeles, Harden says he studied three central influences who 'formed me into who I am,'" Greif wrote. "Kobe Bryant for his dynamism; Paul Pierce for his physicality, stepbacks, and midrange jumpers; and Manu Ginobili—a fellow lefty—for his downhill drives, side steps, and twisting finishes at the rim."
Pierce also went to high school in Inglewood, California, so maybe the L.A.-raised Harden had an easier time excusing his Celtics years.
