NBA: will James Harden return for Philadelphia 76ers after his ‘Daryl Morey is a liar’ comments in China?

James Harden has still yet to play for the Philadelphia 76ers in the new NBA season after sitting out his third consecutive game.

Harden’s absence against Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday was no surprise after the 10-time All-Star had missed his team’s previous outings in the wake of his off-season trade demand.

Officially, the Sixers say Harden needs to “ramp up” his conditioning before he can return to play. Harden has continued to practise with the Sixers and took part in Sunday’s film session and walk-through.

Chinese basketball fans took notice of his lack of action and posted encouragement on social media.

“I always believe in Harden’s ability,” one person wrote on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. “Last season, his three-point shooting percentage was still over 38 percentage points! I believe that Harden will dispel all doubts in the new season, play well for a year, put up the data and get a big contract next year.”

James Harden was recently the subject of trade negotiations with the Los Angeles Clippers. Photo: TNS

Another Chinese fan pointed out the spectators holding up a sign that read “Bring me Harden”.

Harden also did not travel with the Sixers on their opening-week road trip and was told to stay back and practise with the team’s G League players.

“The report on him is, he had some good conditioning days,” coach Nick Nurse said. “All signs are positive, conditioning-wise. Just need to get in some live action.”

Nurse said he expected Harden to practise on Tuesday. The 76ers do not play again until Thursday.

Sixers centre Joel Embiid dropped 24 points in an opening-night loss at Milwaukee and scored 34 points in a win on Saturday against Toronto. With three games in four days, Embiid almost sat out – near-inconceivable for the first home game of the season.

Joel Embiid assisted Philly’s win over Portland with 24 points in a home-opener. Photo: AFP

But the NBA this season strengthened its rules against resting healthy players. The league is already investigating the reasons behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener.

The policy prevents teams, without approval, from resting multiple star players (defined as anyone who was an All-NBA or All-Star selection in the prior three seasons) in the same game, or omitting healthy ones in nationally televised or in-season tournament games.

Nurse said the policy complicated the decision “a little bit” to play or rest Embiid.

NBA legend and former Celtics centre Kevin Garnett had strong opinions on Morey’s handling of Harden’s potential trade.

“[Harden’s situation] could have been resolved a long time ago,” Garnett said in a YouTube video posted on his channel. “This is the bull**** of whatever dude name is – the f***ing GM in f***ing Philly.

“These are games. He could have done this in the summer. This could have been over. If I’m Joel Embiid … man, I’m asking for Daryl Morey to be fired and get the f*** out.

“Y’all should have got this problem out of here … I just hope the Sixers and James Harden come to some resolve and just get it over with. We don’t want to sit back and watch this s***.”