James Harden is extremely close to returning from injury, just in time to face his former team on the road.

The Philadelphia 76ers star said on Sunday that he's “on pace” to return for Monday's road game against the Houston Rockets, according to Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer, after previously missing more than a month of play with a strained right foot.

Harden has been sidelined since a November 2nd loss to the Washington Wizards. A day later, he was diagnosed with a strained tendon in his right foot, absent a definitive return timeline. The Sixers updated his status earlier this week, announcing a target date of Monday's game in Houston for his return to action.

Philadelphia, a popular preseason title pick, struggled to live up to that hype in the earliest going of 2022-23. Buoyed by a dominant defense while Harden's been out, the Sixers have righted the ship to stand at 12-11 overall, including an 8-6 record since he went down.

Making Philly's recent play all the more encouraging is that fellow backcourt star Tyrese Maxey has also missed the last eight games with a foot injury of his own. He's expected to return to the lineup at some point in the next two weeks.

Harden was a bright spot of the Sixers' uneven start, averaging 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game on solid shooting efficiency with a career-low turnover rate. He's not the perennial MVP candidate he was with the Rockets, but Harden's performance offensively at least provided believers in Philadelphia's top-tier contender status confidence in that assessment.

Defense was a different story, and will remain a challenge for Harden and the Sixers upon his Monday return. Their success on that side of the ball of late came as Doc Rivers did away with wholesale switching—a strategy initially deployed to protect Harden—to funnel defenders toward Joel Embiid at the rim.

Time will tell whether or how the Sixers adjust defensively. Regardless, Philadelphia's title odds are certainly far higher with a maestro playmaker like Harden back in the fold.