Sixers News: James Harden's Health Update After Loss vs. Heat

As expected, the Philadelphia 76ers didn’t keep their key players on the floor for the entirety of Thursday night’s game against the Miami Heat.

While some of that might have to do with the fact that the Heat were taking care of business with a dominant showing as they looked to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Sixers didn’t have anything to play for on Thursday night.

Locked into the Eastern Conference’s third seed, the Sixers can’t move up or down. Therefore, players are only taking the floor to stay in shape and maintain a rhythm before a long break.

Staying healthy was vital for the Sixers in Thursday night’s matchup. Lately, the team has dealt with some minor setbacks, and Sixers guard James Harden was a player affected recently.

During March, Harden missed six of 17 games in March, with a four-game stretch of absences towards the end of the month. The guard was dealing with Achilles soreness, which has been an issue for months, according to Harden.

While the ten-time All-Star has played in the Sixers’ last five games, including Thursday’s bout against the Heat, Harden could take the final couple of games off. While there have been times Harden hasn’t looked one hundred percent, he didn’t give any indication that he’s not after Thursday’s game.

“It feels good,” Harden told reporters when asked about his Achilles. During Thursday night’s broadcast, it was reported that Harden got some imaging done on his Achilles just for confirmation that he wasn’t dealing with anything too significant. It turns out that was the case.

Harden and the Sixers will benefit from an upcoming break as the NBA holds its yearly Play-In Tournament. Then, the Sixers will get back to work when they battle it out for the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.