NBA 'Looking into' James Harden's Absence for 76ers' Season Opener vs. Bucks
The NBA is investigating James Harden's absence from the Philadelphia 76ers' season-opening matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
"We're looking into the facts around Harden's availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told Woj.
According to B/R and TNT's Chris Haynes, Harden had been away from the team for 10 days with an excused absence before returning to the Sixers on Wednesday, a surprise within the organization. The team hadn't been fining him during his absence.
He was reportedly told by team officials it would make sense for him to remain in Philly and work with the training staff to ramp up for the regular season rather than travel with the team on a road trip to face the Bucks and Toronto Raptors.
That was reportedly "interpreted as a suggestion rather than a mandate," per Haynes, but when Harden attempted to board the team flight to travel to Milwaukee, "he was stopped by a security official who notified him that he was not permitted to accompany the team, sources say."
General manager Elton Brand and head coach Nick Nurse then reportedly told Harden that the team's preference was for him to follow their training plan, which included him remaining at the team facilities in Philadelphia to start the season.
The motivations behind that decision remain unclear.
According to Haynes, "The Sixers maintain that Harden's ramp-up is the priority, while Harden's camp believes the priority is to eliminate a perceived potential distraction as the team opens with a tough two-game road trip."
Given the constant barrage of Harden micro-updates amidst his longstanding desire to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, it probably doesn't matter if Harden is traveling with the team or taking a rocket to the moon—either way, he's going to be a potential distraction for his teammates and coaches alike, given the constant spate of questions they're fielding on the subject.
As for any developments on the trade front, Woj reported during Wednesday's NBA Countdown that the Clippers have pulled out of talks with the Sixers for the moment.
"At least for the foreseeable future, the Clippers are stepping back from these trade talks about Harden," he said. "They are essentially pausing them. They have talked with Philadelphia for months about a trade. They have made their best offer."
He added that the Clippers could "revisit" talks in the future but didn't want to bid against themselves, believing that they are the only team pursuing a Harden trade at this point.
