Per a Sixers spokesperson, “James Harden did not attend practice today as he is away from the team due to a personal matter.”
Now, to quickly rewind, things had been fairly quiet by the Sixers’ standards over the past couple weeks. James Harden had skipped the team’s Media Day, but then showed up to training camp, continued practicing with the team, and everything generally seemed OK (on the Sixers-adjusted scale).
That presumption changed yesterday, however, when Harden was a no-show at the team’s practice. To many, that absence was a signal that The Beard was about to make things uncomfortable (you know, more uncomfortable), and the lit match would be thrown on the fire at any moment.