5:23pm: Harden has been cleared to play tonight, tweets Malika Andrews of ESPN. He will be on a minutes restriction, according to head coach Steve Nash (Twitter link).
10:41am: Harden plans to play on Wednesday night, assuming his pre-game warmups go smoothly, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
8:21am: Nets guard James Harden has been sidelined since April 5 due to a hamstring injury, but his return appears to be imminent. Harden is expected to be a game-time decision for Wednesday’s game vs. San Antonio, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews of ESPN.
As the ESPN duo notes, Harden has expressed a desire to play in a “couple games” before the postseason gets underway. The Nets have three games left in the season, but their final two are on Saturday and Sunday — it’s unclear if the team would want the former MVP to play in a back-to-back set immediately upon returning.
The plan is for Harden to “gauge his readiness” ahead of Wednesday’s game before he and team officials make a decision on his availability, per Woj and Andrews.
Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving have played together just seven times this season, but even if Harden is cleared to return, tonight’s game may not be the eighth time the three stars are all available. Irving left Tuesday’s win over Chicago due to a facial contusion and is set to undergo further testing after an initial X-ray was inconclusive, according to Andrews.
While Irving has been cleared of a possible concussion, it would be a bit of a surprise if he’s back in action on Wednesday.
Bring out the banners!
God it’s going to be so funny watching Curry go further in the playoffs than Harden.
This is Steve Nash playing chess…never show your hand until it’s time to call aka the playoffs and the finals…
No Kyrie was on the ground for 2 minutes after he got bumped by Vucevich last night. It looked serious enough that Vooch did not run up court with his team mates and signaled the bench for help. So I don’t think there is any chess here, just vets who are somewhat fragile.
That, or Vuch froze up for a min when he realized he got traded to another team that isn’t making the playoffs.
Steve Nash playing chess and showing his poker hand?
How about a more appropriate analogy like Steve Nash playing NBA basketball
Lol Steve isn’t playing he’s the coach. Get it straight!
Well the nets do need 3 stars to actually beat Giannis or sixers. Two just isn’t enough it seems…
What’s your point?
You know what the point is. Don’t you know everything? You do specialize in reporting comments due to your lack of manhood.
It’s going to be so funny watching Harden go way further in the playoffs than Steph.
Not as funny as watching a fan of a team that doesn’t win championships hate on teams that do
Durant/Irving: “James, it’s Kyrie’s turn.”
Wonder how many lbs Rick Ross put on during his time off.
Nets aren’t going to Finals. The Big Noise think they can just show up and win. Yeah OK. Chemistry takes time to build. Nets are done. Their so-called fragile state will be their excuse.
All I see with this version of Harden is Cream Biggums.