PHILADELPHIA — james harden he may officially be a 76ers player, but his debut will have to wait.
The newly acquired shooting guard will not play Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder or Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, as he is expected to arrive in Philadelphia this weekend and be checked out by team medical personnel.
Harden, who is averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game this season, has missed the final week of action with a hamstring injury. That ailment forced him to miss the last three games with the Brooklyn Nets before Thursday’s front-page trade sent him and the veteran Paul Millsap to Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andrew Drummond and a pair of first-round picks.
After their games over the weekend, the 76ers’ next game is Tuesday against the Boston Celtics.
The player Harden will eventually share backcourt with, Tyrese Maxeysaid Friday after practice that Sixers coach Doc Rivers told the team that practices will be more intense in the future as Philadelphia tries to update its new roster and develop chemistry, on and off the field. court.
“It’s going to be great,” Maxey said of playing alongside Harden and Joel Embid. “They’re two MVP-caliber players on top of what we already have here. I think one thing that’s going to really help us is the chemistry and the brotherhood that we have here. It’s easy to welcome someone, no matter who it is, Paul, James, it’s easy to welcome people because of the continuity that we already have here, the guys here like each other, they like to share, they like to talk to each other and they also like to play extremely hard for each other on the court.
“[Asà que] We will try to make the transition as easy as possible. It’s going to be great, and I can’t wait.”
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76ers will evaluate Harden before debut