James Harden skips Sixers’ practice; Nurse: No explanation،
Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden did not show up for practice Wednesday, with coach Nick Nurse saying he had no explanation as to why.
Harden, who has been seeking a trade since picking up his $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 season, was scheduled to participate in Wednesday’s practice. Last week, Harden said he could make his home preseason debut Friday — the team’s final preseason game — against the Atlanta Hawks.
“If he’s there, we go; if he’s not there, we go,” Nurse told reporters Wednesday. “…I keep going back to what he said the last time I talked to him, that he was going to step up and get ready to play on Friday. We’ll see how that goes.”
Harden, after attending a meeting with the team in New York on Sunday, was in Houston in recent days, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. The franchise plans to give Harden the opportunity to explain his absence before deciding how to handle any possible punishment, sources told Shelburne.
Harden has been frustrated for months because his wish to be traded to the LA Clippers has yet to be granted. The two teams have talked in recent days, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday, but that a significant gap remains between them on a possible Harden deal.
In his only media appearance since arriving at training camp earlier this month, Harden said Friday that he could make his preseason debut this Friday in Philadelphia.
“I’m going to speed it up and try to play the last one just to get myself in game situations and get used to the physicality of defenders hitting you and stuff,” Harden said then. “The speed, the tempo, all those good things. So I think we have a good plan in place.”
He attended Sunday’s practice, but did not attend Monday’s shootaround or Monday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. The 76ers were off Tuesday, preparing for Wednesday as the next time he could potentially be on the court with his teammates.
Harden, who has been tied with 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey since the latter brought him to the Houston Rockets in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder before the 2012 season -13, called Morey a “liar” at a shoe event in China in August.
Harden said Friday there’s no chance that relationship will be repaired, and he repeatedly referred to Morey as “front office” without saying his name.
“No,” Harden said flatly, when asked directly if he thought things could work out with Morey. “It’s not even about this situation, it’s life. When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage… you lose trust in someone, you know what I mean say? It’s quite simple.”
Harden later added: “Me and the front office had a very, very good relationship for a decade. There was constant communication, you know what I mean? There was no communication once we have lost [to Boston in the playoffs]”.
Harden and Joel Embiid missed the first three preseason games, with Philadelphia hoping both would play Friday against Atlanta.
