James Harden may finally be ready to join his Houston Rockets teammates at training camp.
Harden arrived in Houston on Tuesday and took a COVID-19 test at the Toyota Center, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. The NBA’s coronavirus protocols state that players must test negative for three consecutive days once in-market before they are cleared to enter their team’s facility, so Harden may not practice until later in the week.
Photos and videos have surfaced on social media over the past week showing Harden partying in Atlanta, Las Vegas and potentially other places. While many assumed he was holding out because he wants a trade, Harden reportedly did not communicate that to the team and left officials as confused as the rest of us.
Head coach Stephen Silas told reporters last week that he expected Harden to practice on Sunday, but that never happened. Silas seemed incredibly frustrated over the situation on Monday.
Harden does appear to be seeking a trade. A new report on Tuesday claimed he informed the Rockets of at least one other team he wants to play for, though there have been no significant trade discussions to this point.
It would stand to reason that Harden plans to report to practice at some point if he has begun going through COVID-19 protocol. Although, his mother did essentially confirm Harden wants out of Houston this week with some comments on social media.
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