- “The Beard” did not travel with the Sixers on their opening week road trip north
- Philadelphia defeated Portland in the team’s first home game, winning 126–98
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Wantaway 76ers star James Harden was all smiles as he joined his Philly teammates on the bench in a 126-98 win over the Trailblazers, moving him closer to a return to the field after missing out on training camp amid trade demands.
Harden’s absence against Portland was no surprise; the 10-time All-Star has now missed all three games as a result of his offseason trade request. Officially, the Sixers say Harden needs to “step up” his conditioning before he can play again.
Harden has continued to practice with the Sixers and participated in Sunday’s film session and walkthrough.
‘The Beard’ wore a yellow hoodie and jeans as he sat on the couch for opening night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. At times he was pictured laughing with close friend and teammate, PJ Tucker.
Harden did not travel with the Sixers on their opening week road trip and was told to stay behind and practice with the team’s G League players. He had longed for a move to LA – his preferred destination – to play for the Clippers after a communication breakdown with Philly’s president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, whom he called a liar in the offseason.
LOOK WHO’S BACK: James Harden returned to Philly after going missing earlier this month
Harden’s teammates didn’t appear to hold a grudge against the 34-year-old on Sunday night
“The report on him is he’s had some good conditioning days,” coach Nick Nurse said. ‘All signs are positive, in terms of conditioning. I just need to do some live action.”
The nurse said he expected Harden, 34, to practice Tuesday. The 76ers don’t play the Raptors again at home until Thursday.
The 76ers didn’t introduce their starting lineup until Sunday, so Harden wasn’t there, but he did make the pregame hype video.
Embiid dropped 35 points against Portland on Sunday, 24 points in an opening night loss in Milwaukee and 34 points in a win Saturday night against Toronto.
The 34-year-old Harden returned to 76ers practice last week, but still needs to step up his game to be healthy
Joel Embiid (L) and Harden (R) carried the 76ers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season
With three games in four days and the opener at the end of a back-to-back, Embiid almost sat out, a surprisingly unthinkable idea for the first home game of the season.
But the NBA has tightened the rules about resting healthy players this season. The league is already investigating the official reason behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener: the return to league reconditioning.
The policy prevents teams, without approval, from resting multiple star players (defined as anyone who was an All-NBA or All-Star selection in the previous three seasons) in the same game, or from sitting healthy players in nationally televised or seasonal matches. tournament games.
Nurse said the load management policy complicates the decision “a little bit” whether to play or rest a player like Embiid.