Rockets star James Harden will be required to register negative coronavirus tests for six consecutive days before receiving clearance to join the team for group workouts, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter links).
As MacMahon explains in an ESPN story, the NBA required three consecutive negative tests from most players before they were permitted to enter team facilities for individual workouts. However, Harden arrived in Houston late and violated league policies by attending parties and clubs in Atlanta and Las Vegas without wearing a face mask, subjecting him to a longer testing period.
The timeline should put Harden on track to join his teammates for practice on Monday, assuming he doesn’t test positive for COVID-19 during the next few days. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle notes (via Twitter) that Harden wasn’t going to fly to Chicago for the Rockets’ preseason games against the Bulls on Friday and Sunday anyway, so this shouldn’t actually delay his practice debut.
Asked today about Harden’s status, Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said he had the opportunity to say hello to the former MVP on Wednesday, per MacMahon. Silas likely won’t get a chance for a longer face-to-face interaction until Harden clears the testing process.
Interestingly, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported today that Harden made his offseason trade request as soon as Houston hired Silas as its new head coach.
While that doesn’t necessarily mean that Harden sought a trade as a direct response to Silas’ hiring, Zillgitt says the former Mavericks assistant wasn’t among the 31-year-old’s top choices when management asked for his input on the coaching search. Harden preferred Tyronn Lue, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
We learned on Tuesday that Harden has indicated to the Rockets that he’s open to being dealt to teams besides Brooklyn, including the Sixers.
NBA should also require for Harden to get a clean shave on that beard. Good lord!
Yeah! And no baggy clothes or loud music either, especially that rip rap stuff. Yuck! Everyone should dress and act exactly the same – the way I say! But communism is bad tho.
Communism is bad you’re correct….but I’ll have to disagree on the everyone should look and act the same part ;-)
Yea…. some of these guys should actually wear baggier clothes… Westbrook shows up in women’s pant suits and he’s on his way to kapri’s.
Dude doesn’t care. He wanted to be away from the team in the first place
If he doesn’t care then why did he show up to training camp? Hmm?
So that he doesn’t get fined, as many posters on this site have been clammoring for.
I’m sure if he’s not traded before the season starts, he’ll end up sidelined with a lot a knick-knack injuries until he is traded.
Internet posters clamoring for another man to be fined? Get a life
I’m sure Harden showed up so he can get paid. Now they have a disgruntled employee who wants to be anywhere but Houston making 40 mil a year. The Lakers (and the Warriors) couldn’t have left a more deserving franchise in ruins
What’s the latest from Harden Wall Wood (formerly Harden Westbrook MVP), got to be pretty disappointing where Houston is headed…
Rent free rent free rent free!
What?
I can kind of understand wanting to go to parties and stuff (I certainly wouldn’t), but why not wear a mask? It’s the simplest precaution and it drastically cuts down on your chances of spreading the virus (if you have it, obviously) and somewhat cuts down on your chances of contracting it. Why not wear one?
Mind-boggling stuff, like turning on watching BYU-Coastal Carolina the other day and seeing droves of people in the stands, not a mask to be seen. Pure insanity and ignorance.
Without getting bogged down in politics I’ll just say that a large portion of the United States is simply not taking this seriously, driven by all sorts of different reasons not limited to but including deliberate misinformation campaigns. Also in the case of a young guy like Harden – masks don’t look “cool”. I don’t see someone like him being above peer pressure, and so we end up with situations like these. It seems simple, but there are a lot of societal pressures that get overlooked, whether they make logical sense or not.
I guess it shouldn’t be any surprise. The US has been horrific at handling the pandemic. Still shocks to see behaviour like this but it’s not like killing grandma and gramps is all on Harden.
Man this Silas comes across as a bit of a dummy, right?
I mean I don’t have no beef with him, realistically don’t know nothin’ about him, apart of his daddy…
But clearly his hiring is, rightfully, one of the reasons Harden wants out, as he wants to win & a rookie coach is usually a guarantee for that to not happen, unless you are a Steve Nash or a J-Kidd, Larry Bird or Magic type of guy.
But on top of that, which is not his fault goes & throws Harden under the bus a couple days ago, to your star player?!?!?
SMH!
I mean this guy won’t last long in the league as a HC, definitely he hasn’t got any smarts at all, absolutely shocking if you ask me!
I agree with Silas, as he’s putting up a strong front, shows some strong character. He’s the head coach and he’s demanding accountability regardless if you’re the max player or a 2-way player.
By the way, Kidd and Magic had unforgettable stints as head coach.
Besides his ice-capade stunt, Kidd’s only notable stint was having a ready-made NETS team courtesy of Billy King – something which they paid for a loooong time and CELTICS fans everywhere took to the bank.
If 76ers don’t trade Simmons for Harden. they will be likely to be knocked out in the first round playoffs next 3 years
The supporting casts are the problems
The big three is not good enough
Just…no
Lot of salty people here. Harden was an MVP for a reason, is in the MVP talks each year for a reason.
#2 in PER last year.
If the Sixers can somehow pull it off, I don’t see it happening until after the season has started.
Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Mike Scott, and Ferguson + (2) 1sts for James Harden and Eric Gordon.
Unloading Gordon’s contract is probably not on the table in talks with any other team. This trade is 58.1M for 58.6M. 24.3M in expiring contracts. All of which could be used to take on a bad contract and a 1st (Blake Griffin?).
They won’t get it done without Simmons coming back
And they won’t get Ben…so if they can find a better deal (not looking like it from the Nets lol) they better jump at it.
They won’t get Simmons and unload Eric Gordon’s terrible deal. They also won’t get Simmons for 1 guaranteed year of Harden.
Egos in the way of that happening. Interesting to include Gordon as an overpay.
Probably, Nd I was thinking the Sixers could use his salary down the line to improve the roster bc they won’t have the cap space to do so.
I doubt Doc would want Harden. He’s a 1way player. Who doesn’t even play a team offense. Why would any team want that. Then pay top dollar for it. Amusing lols. Harden is 31, he will never win a ring. No matter where he goes. KD and Kyrie are the only ones desperate enough. To pay a price for Harden. I only see Nets as real place for him. Plus I’m sure he wants the media attention he’ll get in NYC. NYers will not appreciate his gm. So I don’t see it ending well.
Sixers stay away. There are better trades out there.
The media can keep writing about how James Harden wants to go to Brooklyn or Philly, but the fact is that neither Brooklyn nor Philly want James Harden. Harden and the Houston Rockets are likely stuck with each other. The young brotha trying to coach, Stephen Silas, can’t even properly do his job because of Harden nonsense.
Incorrectly* wont – want. Not a good reply there.