Brooklyn Nets star James Harden suffered a hamstring injury during the first game of his team's Conference Semifinals series against the Milwaukee Bucks last year, forcing him to miss the next three games of the series and play through the injury in the final three games. It was a crushing blow to the Nets, who would also eventually lose Kyrie Irving to an injury as well. The team was still a Kevin Durant-toe away from beating the eventual champion Bucks, and Brooklyn is favored to win the title this season as a result. Something that will no-doubt improve their chances is Harden's health, which he says is as solid as can be.
“I’m 100 percent,” Harden said when asked about the status of his hamstring injury at the Nets' Media Day on Monday. “I’m back.”
Harden, who was somewhat of an iron man prior to last season (he played in at least 87% of his team's games every season up until then) holds himself accountable for the injury.
“I kind of blame myself because I'm usually prepared,” Harden said of the hamstring injury. “Physically, mentally, last year was just draining. … I feel totally different.”
Any season in which a player is traded midseason can be draining, but last year was particularly rough for the entire league given the shortened offseason, condensed regular season and seemingly endless COVID-19-related complications. Of course, it's never a dull moment with the Nets, as the current complication now centers around Irving's resistance to getting vaccinated and his inability to play home games as a result. Still, if Harden and Durant are both healthy, the Nets are a contender regardless of Irving's status.
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