PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers received some tough news on Thursday when they found out that James Harden will miss a month due to a right foot tendon strain. The Sixers now must find a way to replace his playmaking and his scoring out on the floor.
Philadelphia has some options they can turn to such as Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, and Tobias Harris to replace his scoring, and they have a lot of talent on the roster. Despite the 4-5 start, they should be welcoming Joel Embiid back to the lineup sooner rather than later which will obviously help.
Before the Sixers took on the New York Knicks on Friday, coach Doc Rivers discussed his reaction to Harden’s injury and the plan moving forward.
“I don’t know what my reaction was other than disappointed,” said Rivers. “Obviously, we felt it. Honestly, it was better than what we thought so I can give you that much so that, in a crazy way, was good news, I guess? Because we thought it could be a lot worse and it turned out to be better.”
The Sixers said Harden would be reevaluated in two weeks in the wake of the injury so it will be interesting to see what happens with the future Hall of Famer. Philadelphia can lean on Maxey to handle more responsibility as he did to begin the 2021-22 season.
With that being said, Philadelphia has been focusing a lot more on trying to focus on being a team so this is their opportunity to find a way to replace Harden on the floor.
“It is what it is,” Rivers added. “We talked about it before the year. We’re a we team, not a me team, and we just gotta keep getting through all this stuff we got going on at the beginning of the year. It’s the way it is. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
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