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CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers' preseason finale against the Atlanta Hawks will give them one more shot to get prepared for the season. Even as the game goes on, the focus will continue to be on James Harden, whose practice absences have renewed curiosity about his status with the Sixers and whether he will or won’t get traded soon.
Harden missed his second straight practice on Thursday with the Sixers citing a personal reason for his absence. Head coach Nick Nurse said after his absence yesterday that he still expected him to be ready to play. When Harden spoke to the media last week, he said that he was looking to ramp up in order to play against the Hawks.
Now, Nurse said that Harden is unlikely to play on Friday but that “you never know what tomorrow morning may bring and we'll see.”
While Nurse and the players insist that Harden has been a positive influence on the team when he’s there, his sudden absence makes a difficult situation even tougher for a team trying to compete for a championship. The Sixers have to prepare two scripts for the regular season depending on what Harden chooses to do.
“I think the organization has made it clear what's going on,” Nurse said. “They're working on stuff, as we say, day by day. So, that's it. We had a really good practice today, very energetic with the guys that were here, and that's what we're focused on.”
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Among the players who are expected to go tomorrow is Joel Embiid, who was aiming to play on Monday in Brooklyn before feeling under the weather on game day and sitting out. Nurse also hopes to have Furkan Korkmaz, who is dealing with a leg strain, make his preseason debut.
“I think that you get to the point where some of the veteran guys, some of them need more minutes for conditioning, so we could do that. There's the Furk situation where he hasn't played at all and we need to see him. However, we probably don't wanna overdo it since he's coming off an injury as well,” Nurse said. “But I do need to see him and evaluate him, um, for sure. We'll see again, you know, how many minutes Joel ends up needing tomorrow as well.”
Nurse said that his superstar center and other key players like Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and De'Anthony Melton could play more in order to get them more prepared for the season. “I think that's just natural to kind of continue to ramp those guys up, but there's a little bit of feel to it tomorrow night with certain guys,” he said.
The Sixers open their regular season on Thursday, October 26 against the Milwaukee Bucks.
