Nets coach ‘not 100% certain’ James Harden will return before the playoffs

NEW YORK — With fewer than 10 games to go in the regular season, it remains unclear whether James Harden will return from a nagging hamstring strain before the playoffs. His status is yet another roadblock for the Nets Big 3, which has not played even seven full games as a trio since Harden’s mid-January trade to Brooklyn.

Steve Nash on Friday opted not to give a definitive time frame for Harden’s return.

“Let me avoid the question and say we’ll see. I’m not 100 percent certain he will or he won’t. That’s true,” the head coach said before the Nets tipped off against the Trail Blazers Friday. “But I just don’t want to make a guess one side or the other because I don’t think it serves anyone, because it’s out of our control.”

Harden carried the Nets for different stretches while both Kevin Durant (hamstring) and Kyrie Irving (personal leave) missed time. He was averaging 25 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds per game this season, but his campaign for Most Valuable Player of the Year went out the window with his hamstring strain.

Harden initially strained his hamstring in Brooklyn against the Houston Rockets on March 31 and pulled himself from the game in the third quarter. He sat out the following two games — when the Nets hosted the Hornets, then traveled to Chicago — before returning to play against the Knicks, when he re-aggravated the injury in the first five minutes of the first quarter.

Harden then sat the next six games before getting setback by an on-court workout session. He’s missed 15 of the team’s last 16 games, with no timeline on when he will return.

“We’re really waiting to see how he responds and how he heals and how quickly he gets there and then how quickly can he handle high intensity NBA level work,” Nash said.

Asked about whether Harden could return in the regular season or for the playoffs, Nash said: “I’ll have to say we’ll see, but both are possible.”

Harden’s injury comes as the Nets welcomed Durant back from ongoing availability issues. He missed two separate three-game stints earlier this season for violating the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. He missed 23 straight games with a hamstring strain, then an additional three games with a thigh contusion, and he is still being load managed.

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Durant sat Friday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers because it was the second game of a back-to-back. Irving, however, played after sitting Thursday’s game against the Pacers with groin soreness.

The Durant-Harden-Irving trio has only played in six-and-a-half games, the half on Feb. 5, when Durant was forced to come off the bench against the Raptors while awaiting a negative coronavirus test, only to be pulled due to contact tracing in the third quarter.

“I think we’ve recognized for a while now that we’re probably not going to have the luxury of a run of games with everyone available and we may not to start the playoff,” Nash said on April 27. “You just never know. The way this season has been kind of like an avalanche and a relentless amount of games and travel that’s just part of the challenge this season.

“We won’t be afforded that luxury of having a runway of time together. We’re going to have to build through the playoffs and get better if we’re fortunate enough to get everyone back.”