The Sixers’ season has not been off to a great start, and it just got worse with some bad injury news. He left last night’s game with an apparent injury. And we now know that he suffered a right foot tendon strain. The injury is expected to keep him out of the lineup for a month.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden has suffered right foot tendon strain and is expected to miss a month. pic.twitter.com/LHEIucfbFj
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 3, 2022
It has not been pretty so far for them. They are currently a game under .500 and just lost to the Wizards last night. Joel Embiid and DeAnthony Melton have also recently missed games. Though in Embiid’s case it is for an illness, not an injury. Both should be back soon. But now we know it will be at least a month until they can get Harden back. And an already struggling team will have to adjust without one of their star players.
James Harden was 2nd in the NBA with 10 assists per game. He also averages 22 pts per game (3rd on the team) and 7 rebounds a game (2nd on the team). Without him, DeAnthony Melton would probably slot into the starting lineup once healthy, and Tyrese Maxey will take over ball-handling duties like he did last year. The Maxey minutes where he is running things have gone fairly well so far this season, but we will have to see what it looks like over extended periods of time.
But for the next month, the Sixers will have to get by without their star PG. A big hit, especially for a team still trying to build chemistry. They play 14 games over the next month. If he came back in exactly a month, the next time we see him would be December 5th vs the Rockets. In the meantime, they have games vs the Bucks and the Nets where they will be without Harden in November.
