Nets star James Harden recently made a startling revelation about the hamstring injury he sustained during the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
Advertisement
Earlier this year, the Brooklyn Nets acquired 3x scoring champion and former league MVP James Harden, which would probably be one of the biggest blockbuster deals of the past decade.
The Nets were now a juggernaut with the likes of Durant, Irving, Harden, and Blake Griffin. They were clearly one of the favorites to win the chip this year.
In the 36-games that Harden played for the Nets, he averaged 26.4 PPG, 10.9 APG, and 8.5 RPG on 47.1% shooting from the field. The beard had clearly adapted to his new role of being the facilitator of the Nets offense.
Unfortunately, Harden’s great run with the Nets came to an end when he suffered from a hamstring soreness that later relapsed into a hamstring strain. This led to Harden missing 18-games.
Harden would return in time for the 2021 NBA Playoffs. The 9x NBA All-Star was sensational in round one against the Boston Celtics. Harden put up a spectacle in Game 5 notching up a 34-point triple-double against the Celtics.
However, during the Game of the semi-finals against the Bucks. Harden reaggravated his hamstring injury in only 43 seconds of him being into the match.
James Harden reveals that he’s played through a grade 2 hamstring strain
During Game Four of the eastern semi-finals. Nets star and former NBA champion Kyrie Irving suffered an ankle sprain and was declared out indefinitely.
Harden, who missed the first 3 games of the series, decided to return to the lineup. Everyone knew the Nets star was not 100% but the Nets organization decided to go forward with his decision.
Harden’s struggles were visible on the court as the former MVP didn’t even look a shadow of himself. Constantly struggling from the field and being a liability on the defensive end.
The Nets would, unfortunately, go on to lose the series against the Bucks.
The former 6th man of the year recently opened up about his injury:
“It’s basically a grade 2 hamstring strain, so the first possession of Game 1 up until Game 5, that was the first time I did any basketball competition against anybody. I was literally going out there on a limb.”
Kevin Durant reflects on the “inspiring” 46-minute outing from James Harden tonight with his hamstring injury
“In the stat sheet, it may not look like it was great, but just his energy, his talk, his communication throughout the whole game was on point” pic.twitter.com/ouDGbqZqa7
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) June 16, 2021
This revelation had everyone thinking if the Nets had risked Harden’s career. Fortunately, Harden didn’t relapse in his rehab timeline, at least insofar as we know.
The decision to play him could have clearly jeopardized his career. The NBA had witnessed a similar situation in the 2019 NBA Finals when Kevin Durant suffered an Achilles injury that made him miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season.
