James Harden practices with Rockets, will make season debut Tuesday

Harden will play in Tuesday’s home exhibition against San Antonio. “We had a good conversation,” head coach Stephen Silas said of Harden.

All-Star guard James Harden practiced with the Houston Rockets on Monday and will make his first game appearance of the 2020-21 season in Tuesday night’s home exhibition contest versus San Antonio.

Harden was a late arrival at training camp following his offseason trade request, and the NBA required him to test negative for COVID-19 on six consecutive days before he could rejoin his teammates. Monday represented the end of that period, and Harden was on the court at Toyota Center to begin preparing for his ninth season in Houston.

“We had a good conversation, and I’m just going to leave it at that,” head coach Stephen Silas said when asked whether he had spoken with Harden about his situation. “He was locked in. He was asking good questions. He was bringing up good points. So, we had a good discussion.”

Silas, who spoke after Monday’s practice, downplayed the notion of Harden’s uncertain status potentially being a distraction to the Rockets.

“We talked basketball,” Silas said of his conversation with Harden. “I’m a basketball coach and he’s a basketball player. We talked hoop. It hasn’t been that much of a distraction. That’s something that the media has been talking about quite a bit and I’ve had to answer a lot of questions about, but as far as our growth and our kind of pushing forward this season… adding James and PJ [Tucker] to the mix makes it better.”

Harden was not made available to reporters on Monday.

Veteran forward PJ Tucker and guard Sterling Brown also made their practice debuts on Monday. Like Harden, both should play Tuesday.

“They were both in practice today and participated,” Silas said of Tucker and Harden. “It was good to have them there and have their spirit here, good to have their veteran savvy, their smarts, their ability, so many different things.”

The only Houston player who did not participate in Monday’s practice was Christian Wood, who remains sidelined by left elbow soreness. However, he expressed optimism that he would be able to play by Thursday’s preseason finale. “Just an abrasion, nothing crazy,” Wood said.

With Harden in the lineup, Tuesday’s exhibition versus the Spurs tips off at 7:00 p.m. Central. It will be televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.

[lawrence-related id=41844,41821]

https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=rSbMQTwDFy-1066772-7498&format=json&offsetx=0&offsety=0&floatwidth=400&floatposition=bottom-right&float=on