On February 15, Beijing time, the Philadelphia 76ers officially confirmed that new signing Harden will miss this All-Star Game because he is still in the process of recovering from a hamstring injury. The 76ers also officially posted a scene of Harden taking makeup photos and participating in team training for the first time. Harden was in the same frame as Embiid in training, with his arms raised and his smile on his face. Philadelphia reporters reported that Harden will make his 76ers debut as early as Feb. 26 (Beijing time) against the Timberwolves.
In the previous All-Star captain selection session, Durant did not choose Harden until the end, Harden automatically joined the James team. Today, Harden's absence from the All-Star Game means that the Eastern Conference All-Star team will add one more person, and this player will join James directly. Philadelphia reporters reported that the 76ers are not in a hurry to make Harden comeback, and they hope to make Harden fully recover in the long run, as they stare at the championship battle in a few months.
In the official photo posted by the 76ers, Harden and all-star partner Embiid are in the same frame, with their arms raised and smiling! Harden and Millsap have finished taking makeup shots, Harden put on the No. 1 jersey, and Millsap changed into the No. 8 jersey. Harden himself also updated the social media, posting photos of himself after changing teams. In the photo, Harden has been laughing, leaving the Nets to join the 76ers, and his mood is great.
"I think it's more important to make sure he's ready healthily," Rivers said after training today, "and we can wait until he's ready before he's ready." In today's training, Harden seems ready, he took the first training of his 76ers career, there were no restrictions in training, and he also had a three-point training with his new teammate Maxi. Rivers revealed that Maxi showed two dunks today, and his athleticism surprised Harden a bit. During training, Harden also patted Maxie and was very satisfied with the young man.
"Harden laughed today and said, 'It's great, what you guys play is very similar to what I used to play,'" Rivers said, "It's not hard to get Harden into offense, he's an amazing player, you don't need to complicate things." You know what he's good at. So far this season, Harden has played 44 games, averaging 22.5 points, 8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game. The 76ers are currently 34-22 and rank 5th in the East.