James Harden showed up, bags packed, on Wednesday at the airport fixed base operator where the Philadelphia 76ers were about to board a plane for their road trip to Milwaukee and Toronto. Security stopped him, and the 76ers front office as well as coach Nick Nurse told Harden — as previously discussed — they wanted him to stay in Philadelphia and work on his conditioning after 10 days away from the team, according to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Harden left, frustrated, but without incident.
Now the NBA is investigating whether this violates the league’s new player participation policy, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and confirmed by the league office.
After not playing in a preseason game since Oct. 7, then being away from the team for 10 days due to a “personal matter,” the 76ers wanted to be cautious with Harden — a player with a history of hamstring issues — and make sure he was conditioned and ready to take the floor for an NBA game. While Harden wanted to travel and work out with the team on the road, the 76ers front office believed he could prepare for a return faster at the team’s practice facilities, working with the coach he normally works out with. The obvious other hope is that no Harden on the road would mean fewer questions and less of a distraction.
The NBA’s player participation policy calls for not sitting healthy All-Star-level players for nationally televised games — which the game against the Bucks was — and if the player cannot play he is supposed to at least be in the arena and on the bench. It is the second part that the league is investigating if the 76ers violated by keeping Harden in Philly. The 76ers would counter Harden will get back on the court faster working on his conditioning at the team facilities.
Philadelphia could be fined $100,000 for this first offense under the league policy.
The unspoken context of all this is Harden’s trade demand, which still looms over everything the 76ers do. He requested a trade back in July (ideally to the Clippers), said he would never again play for an organization headed by “liar” Sixers president Daryl Morey, and has said since camp opened the trade demand still stands. However, the only serious suitor has been the Clippers and there has been no traction toward a deal between those sides in more than a month. With the season starting, the Clippers have paused efforts to acquire Harden. Until something changes the dynamic, there will be no movement toward a Harden trade.
One thing that could change that dynamic is Harden playing well, but he has to get back on the court first and that’s not happening until next week, at least. The 76ers just may be in trouble for how they handled that.
