MILWAUKEE—The Philadelphia 76ers went to Milwaukee without James Harden and the National Basketball Association (NBA) wants to know why.
The league, which strengthened its rules about resting healthy players this summer, is investigating the reasons behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener against the Bucks on Thursday night.
“We’re looking into the facts around James Harden’s availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.
Harden wants to be traded and was away from the Sixers recently until returning this week.
Coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday that the point guard wouldn’t travel with the team so he could work on rebuilding his conditioning with team staff members at the 76ers’ training facility.
TNT reported during the 76ers’ 118-117 loss that Harden had attempted to board the team plane to Milwaukee and was turned away.
Asked after the game whether that report was accurate, Nurse replied that “there was a report that he showed up for practice and we determined that he should stay back for conditioning.”
The player participation policy requires teams to demonstrate an approved reason for a star player to miss national TV games (such as Phoenix listing injuries for Devin Booker and Bradley Beal that had them missing the Suns’ visit to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night).
Teams could be fined $100,000 for their first violation of the policy. AP
Anthony Davis had 30 points and 13 rebounds and LeBron James scored 10 of his 21 points while playing the entire fourth quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers blew past Phoenix in the final minutes for a 100-95 victory over the short-handed Kevin Durant and the Suns on Thursday night.
James made the tiebreaking layup with 1:11 to play for the Lakers, who rallied from a 12-point deficit entering the fourth to get their first victory of the new season in the home opener of James’s 21st National Basketball Association (NBA) campaign.
The 35-year-old Durant finished with 39 points and 11 rebounds while moving into 12th place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Image credits: AP