James Harden's gf Paije Speights shares pic of couple cozying up as she gets eager to go on 'vacation'

This season, James Harden has been enjoying a career resurgence of sorts. He has no plans of relaxing any time soon—unless his significant other can change his mind.

Paije Speights, the fashion designer who became Instagram-official with Harden earlier this year, recently posted a story that sent a not-so-subtle message to her beau.

"I need a vacation soon," read Speights' caption for the image, which shows her and Harden lying next to each other on a mattress. It remains to be seen whether The Beard will oblige.

James Harden has been putting in the work

The way Harden has been playing this season, he would be hard-pressed to stall his own momentum, romantic relationships notwithstanding.

NBA: Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Clippers - Source: Imagn

Currently, the Los Angeles Clippers have a 14-10 record, which is good for sixth in the highly competitive Western Conference. The Clippers' above-500 record is thanks in large part to Harden, whose 21.6 scoring average is the highest among all players who have competed in all 24 games thus far. If Harden keeps up this pace, this will be his best scoring season since 2021-2022, when he was averaging 22.6 points per game for the Brooklyn Nets.

Dig deeper into the stats, and you'll find more ways in which Harden has translated his individual contributions into team success. At the moment, Harden has the second-highest win shares (WS) on the Clippers' roster; his 2.3 WS is only a shade under Ivica Zubac's 2.4. Outside of Norman Powell (who has missed seven games this season), Harden also has the highest player efficiency rating (PER) on this side of Tinseltown.

Having missed zero games thus far, Harden certainly wants to keep his engine running as the Clippers look to improve their playoff position. It would be interesting, of course, to see if his partner can convince him to squeeze in some vacation plans.

A Relationship Immortalized

Even before Speights and Harden became IG official, their relationship caught the attention of the world with a meme-worthy video.

In a video that went viral this past summer, Speights is seen catching the bouquet tossed by Rajon Rondo's new bride. Harden, who is standing right behind Speights as she gets her hands on the bouquet, is then shown wide-eyed and frozen in his tracks.

Naturally, Harden's antics led to hilarious reactions all over X.

The best way to describe Harden's reaction at that moment? The man looked like he could use a vacation.