Everyone knew James Harden was not 100 percent when he forced himself to return from hamstring injury, but no one outside the Brooklyn Nets understood the severity of his condition.
Apparently, Harden is dealing with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and he never really had the chance to test it as he rushed back his return to help Brooklyn after Kyrie Irving sustained a sprained right ankle in Game 4. As Mayo Clinic cited, a Grade 2 hamstring strain requires at least four to eight weeks of recovery.
Harden picked up the injury in Game 1 of the series against the Bucks on June 5. He played 10 days later despite clearly not being in good condition.
“It’s basically a grade 2 hamstring strain, so the first possession of Game 1 up until Game 5, that was the first time I did any basketball competition against anybody. I was literally going out there on a limb,” Harden said, per Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype.
As Malika Andrews of ESPN noted, the Nets never revealed the severity of James Harden's injury and just called it hamstring tightness. Head coach Steve Nash said after Irving's injury that he won't rush the former Houston Rockets star back given his condition, but that wasn't what happened.
Whether it is Harden or the team's decision, the fact that he played through such injury is truly risky and could have jeopardized the Nets' playoffs even more had they made it past the second round.
Hopefully, Harden's injury did not worsen and he'll be able to return to full health sooner rather than later. The Nets will have more time now that they have failed in their title bid, but that might be good news for Harden as he can look to bounce back even better next season.
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