Nets guard James Harden has suffered a setback in his rehab from a hamstring injury, the team announced today (via Twitter).
The setback occurred during an “on-court rehab session” on Monday, according to the team statement.
Harden had an MRI on Tuesday and will remain out indefinitely.
“We’re back to square one,” head coach Steve Nash said, according to an ESPN report. “He will be back when he’s back. It might be the playoffs. It might be sooner.”
Over the weekend, GM Sean Marks expresses optimism that Harden would suit up soon, so this obviously caught the Nets by surprise. Harden suffered the injury in the early going against the Knicks on April 5.
If the injury continues to sideline him or be a source of concern during the postseason, it could obviously affect the team’s championship aspirations. Harden has played to an MVP level since forcing a trade from the Rockets in January. He’s averaging 25.4 PPG, 11.0 APG and 8.7 RPG with Brooklyn.
Kinda sad what nba has become, no one cares about regular season. They just rest players (with fake injury designations) and then show up in playoffs. Why not just cancel the regular season and do a play in for seeding?
U want some peanuts w that salt…chill everything gonna be alrite
Well at least due to COVID there are less paying fans who miss getting to see the top stars.
I have to watch these bogus Geico, State Farm, Taco Bell and Buick commercials.
Except for the replayed NBA Season Ticket games.
It might be playoffs it might be sooner, before an MRI all of a sudden Nash knows. It’s a BS injury.
When Klay got injured he was out all season.
Having a hard time not believing that the three (Harden, Irving and Durant) aren’t colluding with each other and taking turns coming in and out of the lineup for whatever reason it may be, just making sure they make the playoffs. Wouldn’t be surprised a Xmas miracle happens and all three are ready come round two of the playoffs.
Between this and quitting on his team in Houston, anyone who thinks this dude should even get 1 vote for mvp needs to be checked in the head. He’s missed more than half the season if he’s put til the playoffs.
Agree. No MVP for James
Big fan of your work….
The last time KD and Harden played together their team lost to LeBron’s Heat in the Finals. But the Nets biggest problem right now isn’t Harden, it’s Durant. KD isn’t going to be anything close to 100% when the playoffs begin.
He has already missed 33 games so far and who knows how many more he’ll miss. Sadly, at his age this could be the beginning of the end for KD.
Oh Weeeeellll ……. the playoffs must be close. Cause Harden about to be a “No Show” again.
Nets don’t need talents to show up in the game
Pelicans have tons to talents with no wins
What difference does it make. Nobody cares about the regular season anyway.
When the playoffs start, Harden, Kawhi, LeBron, AD and others will miraculously get healed.
It matters for those that buy season tickets, or just tickets to an individual game and then find out the player they came to see is out because of whatever the reason is. It becomes elitist. It’s becoming ‘I want to get paid, not show up for work, and only play with my friends.’
I want to give guys a slight pass this year because of all the craziness (and maybe Harden really is injured, it’s hard for any of us to know for sure), but in general I agree with you both.
The league can’t have it both ways – either shorten the season if the injury risk is truly too high, or tighten up the load mgmt stuff.
Let’s end individual team doctors, and have the league provide neutral doctors who rotate every so often.. I bet that would put an end to these “injuries” that magically heal right in time for the post season.
Lol yeah, the last thing you want for a pro athlete is a doctor unfamiliar with their body. These aren’t mechanics bro.
If the league really wants to solve it they need to start punishing the teams. It’s just a tough line to walk because good luck forcing players to play. Can’t end well.
And I don’t mean guys who don’t want to play, I mean someone who is hurt having to prove they’re not. Bad road to travel down.
These people’s bodies are not that unique man. Doctors learn the human body in general, not specific individuals.
Plus your “these aren’t mechanics” sentence makes no sense because most mechanics are far more specialized than GP team doctors.
Lol I can’t tell if you’re being serious
I am being serious. The league has to mandate do overs.
I think it’s time to end the 82 game season, personally. Sure some records might get screwed up, but there used to be no 3 point line, and I don’t think they even recorded blocks and steals until the mid-70s.
Point is, like you said, it’s tough to punish guys because it’s tough to prove someone’s hamstring doesn’t hurt. The easiest way to solve it is make each game matter more.
It might cost the league some cash but maybe not. The NFL does pretty well with just 16 games a season.
If these injuries are real then BRKN has one of most incompetent training staffs in the NBA. That unit needs some shaking up because they can’t keep their best guys on the court.
You know it’s a condensed season right??? Wasn’t Giannis hurt for a while too?
I think the NBA is just biding its time getting 3D readings of all the players so that they can create virtual games and eliminate the need for real players. Read it on 8kun.
This condensed season has players that are durable getting injured. Yet Silver wants to fine teams for allowing players to rest? What an idiot.