CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are one game into the preseason schedule after they fell to the Boston Celtics on Sunday. Now, they turn their attention to a rematch with the Celtics on Wednesday at home in more preseason action.
All eyes will be on whether James Harden plays. The Beard has, obviously, requested a trade out of Philadelphia, and the Sixers have yet to fulfill his request. They continue to focus on getting the best value in return for him.
He has rejoined the team and he has been in practice, but coach Nick Nurse said the future Hall of Famer still has work to do. His status for Wednesday’s matchup with the Celtics is very much up in the air.
“No, not yet,” Nurse said of a Harden update. “Again, we’re just kinda going day-by day with this. We had a pretty good practice today. Always seeing who comes out of them. We’ll probably have a better update after shootaround.”
When asked if he did participate in all of practice on Tuesday, Nurse succinctly said: “Yup!”
One school of thought could be that the Sixers don’t want to risk injury by playing Harden, which would complicate the efforts to move him. However, the Sixers do not want to trade The Beard, at the end of the day. They would like to keep him. So, if he’s healthy and ready to go, there’s a good chance he’s going to play. It will all come down to how he feels.
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