The story of the NBA All-Star Draft was the Brooklyn Nets trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons (and more), leading to some hilarity on that night’s draft featuring captains LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Durant was asked about the trade to open the show and was as diplomatic as possible, while also offering a telling nugget by saying “everybody got what they wanted” about the deal. Later, as the reserves were getting picked, Charles Barkley egged LeBron James into forcing Durant to choose between Rudy Gobert and Harden with his final pick, as Durant deftly said he needed “size” and selected Gobert while the entire studio and LeBron cackled with laughter. It was quite the scene, and LeBron even questioned if Harden would be on his team with his hamstring injury that kept him out for a week from the Nets prior to the trade — which led Barkley to joke he’s feeling fine now that he’s been traded.
On Monday, Harden arrived at the Sixers facility for the first time and was spotted doing on-court work, but the team announced that afternoon that he would be out through the All-Star break and would not play in Sunday’s game, meaning Adam Silver has a third injury replacement to pick for Team LeBron.
James Harden is out through All-Star break (rehabilitation, left hamstring). In the interim, he will continue his treatment and on-court training. Harden will not participate in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game and an update on his playing status will be provided following the break
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) February 14, 2022
It’s not a shock and the Sixers only have two games this week, home against Boston and away at Milwaukee, prior to the break, so they won’t be without their new star for too much longer. As for Harden’s replacement, one would expect Cavs center Jarrett Allen to get strong consideration after LaMelo Ball was the first injury replacement from the East, but we won’t know that officially until the NBA announces the commissioner’s selection.