February 14, 2022

Sixers' James Harden out through All-Star break, appears at first practice with team

You may have to wait to see Harden in a game, but he took part in Sixers practice Monday, and we've got video proof.

By Kyle Neubeck
PhillyVoice Staff

James Harden's Sixers debut will have to wait until after the All-Star break, with the Sixers announcing on Monday that he would continue to rehabilitate his left hamstring in advance of his return to the floor.

In the meantime, the Sixers say he will continue treatment and on-court training to get back up to speed. As part of the rehab process, Harden will miss Sunday's All-Star Game in Cleveland. The earliest Harden might be seen in a Sixers uniform is Friday, February 25th on the road in Minnesota, where the Sixers will take on the Timberwolves in their first game following the break.

For anyone who was hoping to see Harden prior to the team's midseason break, it's a bit of a buzzkill, but this was not a huge shock based on what people had said behind the scenes after the trade was completed. And this is being sold by the Sixers as simply doing the right thing for Harden long-term, as they stare down a potential championship run in the months to come.

"I think it's more to make sure he's right, healthy, and ready to go," Doc Rivers said following practice Monday. "We want to make sure he's ready, and so we're going to wait until he's ready."

Harden didn't exactly look not ready during a post-practice session he participated in Monday, the veteran All-Star chained at the hip to second-year guard Tyrese Maxey. The assumed starting backcourt went through a barrage of shooting drills in front of the media, rotating through standstill, catch-and-shoot shots and off-the-dribble looks from different spots around the arc.

Harden and Maxey getting off the dribble threes up pic.twitter.com/DWhPqxqL7f
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) February 14, 2022

Obviously, shooting drills are not an indicator of anyone's readiness to play in an NBA game, but Rivers told reporters on Monday that Harden participated in everything the rest of the team did, as they begin the process of incorporating a big piece and true co-star for Joel Embiid into the group. Some of it, at least according to the coach, is going to be relatively easy, thanks to the gifts of the player they just acquired, a "basketball savant" to use the words of new teammate Georges Niang.

"You want to make sure your offense fits him, too," Rivers said. "He was laughing today, like, 'It's amazing, what you guys do is similar to what I've done.' That stuff is easy. You got to get your end-of-the-game package, stuff like that, some of that will be different.

"Fitting James Harden into an offense is not that hard. It really isn't, he's just a terrific basketball player. You don't need to overcomplicate it. You know where he's been great at, you know which direction he wants to go, and so you put him on those sides of the floor. A couple of the things we run, today our guys automatically flipped it without me saying a word...Tyrese ran it on the other side of the floor, and they just did it."

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The partnership with Maxey is something everyone is going to be watching when the full-strength Sixers take the floor together, so it's noteworthy that they're already grouped up together during post-practice workouts. That's part of a small, but subtle change Rivers claims they made after his staff was put in place before last season — whereas the Sixers used to lean toward individual workouts with the team spread around the gym with specialists, Rivers wants them in pods now, with groups of two to three guys working together.

Maxey, who has already shown off a ton during his brief time in the league, now has the opportunity to learn alongside a master of the craft in Harden. Just being next to him, Rivers says, should be enough to keep Maxey's arrow pointed upward.

"Just stand next to him and hope it rubs off," Rivers joked on Monday. "Clearly, our first day, we wanted to make sure that James and Tyrese are together. Just being together will help Tyrese, and James today was blown away by Tyrese. [Maxey] had two dunks today, and James was like, 'Oh my gosh.' You don't see that, how athletic he is, and I thought that surprised James a bit."

Harden, Maxey, and Benny the Butcher pic.twitter.com/xTmoru5Edy
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) February 14, 2022

While Harden's on-court debut for Philadelphia is still at least 13 days away, he will have the chance to introduce himself to the locals for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, when Harden will speak at a press conference alongside Daryl Morey, Joshua Harris, Doc Rivers, and Paul Millsap, the last of whom was spotted in a No. 8 practice jersey in Camden on Monday afternoon. Millsap's status is not as clear as Harden's at the moment, though it does sound like there's a possibility he can play for the Sixers at some point this week.

In any case, the Sixers are downplaying the difficulty of absorbing one of the NBA's most ball-dominant players into their program. Teammates believe the unselfishness of this group will make it easy to get Harden acclimated, and Joel Embiid has already spoken of the need for everybody to sacrifice (big man included) in order to go where they want to go with Harden. It's going to take open dialogue and open minds to make this happen, and Rivers believes that shouldn't be a problem.

"Everyone's going to give up shots, including James, to win," Rivers said Monday. "And if you really want to win as a group, then that's not a hard process. As a coach, you have to find who it matters to and who it doesn't matter to, and that's who you play."