Harden suffers setback with injury
James Harden has had a setback with his hamstring injury and will be sidelined “indefinitely,” the Nets announced Tuesday evening.
“Back to square one,” Nets coach Steve Nash. “We’ll rehabilitate him and get him back whenever we can. Who knows when that’ll be, but we’ll support James and we’ll support our performance team in getting him back in his best condition as possible, and hopefully that comes sooner than later. But there’s no guarantee. So, we just keep chipping away. We keep moving forward and we hope for a speedy recovery.”
Harden, who was acquired by the Nets in January in a trade with the Rockets, is averaging 25.2 points 10.9 assists and eight rebounds per game. He hasn’t played since April 5.
Nash said he was at the workout when Harden sensed trouble.
“He just felt it. He didn’t fall or stumble or anything out of the ordinary,” Nash said. “He just felt something maybe in the ballpark of a strain, just a setback.
“Not much more to it other than just disappointment and we have to rebuild and get him going again. He’ll be back when he’s back. That might not be until the playoffs. It might be sooner. I don’t know.”
College basketball: Johnny Juzang, who starred for UCLA in the Bruins’ run to the Final Four, is entering his name in the NBA draft but not hiring an agent. That leaves open a possible return to school. As a sophomore, Juzang averaged 22.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in six NCAA Tournament games. He averaged 16.0 points and 4.1 rebounds while starting 26 of 27 regular-season games after transferring from Kentucky, where he played as a freshman.
College football: Division II Youngstown State was placed on probation for two years and hit with recruiting sanctions by the NCAA after the school and the association agreed several rules violations were committed under former coach Bo Pelini. Golf: The PGA Tour is awarding a $40 million bonus pool to the top 10 players who move the needle in golf, regardless of how they perform inside the ropes. The payout goes to the top 10 players for the year, determined by an accumulative score measuring popularity through such metrics as Q Rating, Google searches, Nielsen Brand Rating on how a player’s exposure helps sponsors and Meltwater Mentions (frequency of player coverage through various media platforms).
NFL: The NFL and NFL Players Association approved a position-specific helmet design for the first time since they began regulating equipment for playersy. The helmet, known as the VICIS ZERO2-R TRENCH, is equipped with bumpers on their front and upper sides, where studies showed are a common point of contact for linemen who absorb concussion-causing contact.
NHL: Avalanche F Mikko Rantanen was added to the COVID-19 protocol absence list, joining G Phillipp Grubauer and F Joonas Donskoi on the list. The Avs have been shut down since Donskoi went on the list last week and are tentatively scheduled to return to action Thursday . ... Canadiens G Carey Price will be out at least a week because of concussion protocols.