Update: James Harden returned to the court after suffering apparent knee injury (12:19 AM, March 24)
Philadelphia 76ers star guard James Harden has missed seven of a possible 18 games since they acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets on February 10.
Even before the trade, Harden was dealing with a hamstring injury throughout pretty much the entire season.
With Philadelphia’s title aspirations resting on the health of both James Harden and Joel Embiid, the team might now be in some trouble.
During Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Harden went down in a heap of pain — clutching for his right knee in the process. The play in question looked pretty bad.
James Harden injury updates
Harden was seen on the ground as ESPN went to commercial from Crypto.com Arena in Southern California. When the broadcast returned, Harden was seen walking gingerly to the locker room. There was no immediate update from Philadelphia regarding the injury. He did return to the bench.
Earlier in the game, Harden was seen struggling heading up the court. However, that likely had more to do with the former NBA MVP’s hamstring than this more-recent injury.
To say that this could be some bad news for the 76ers would be an understatement.
- James Harden stats (with 76ers): 22.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 10.5 APG, 43% shooting, 35% three-point
We’ll have further updates on Harden’s injury. For now, the 76ers are awaiting word on what went wrong.
Philadelphia entered Wednesday’s action boasting a 44-27 record and as the third seed in the Eastern Conference. If the season were to end today, the team would be taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
With that said, Philly is also a mere two games behind the Miami Heat for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.