Houston coach Silas calls star Harden a holdout

We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas referred to superstar James Harden’s from training camp as a holdout on Monday and said there is “no timetable” he is aware of for the perennial All-Star guard to report, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

After Harden missed Houston’s first team workout Sunday, Silas cited the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols as the reason the Rockets’ face of the franchise could not practice with the team. However, Harden did not show up for an anticipated individual workout Sunday evening.

Harden, who sources say has requested to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets, has not communicated recently with Silas. A source told ESPN on Sunday night that Harden informed Rockets management that he would report soon, but Silas expressed uncertainty about when the 2017-18 NBA MVP would rejoin the team.

“There is no timetable, as far as I know,” Silas said after Monday’s practice. “It is a setback. You want your best player to be here.”

Silas said he did not know whether Harden had returned to Houston. Harden posted pictures on Instagram over the weekend of him attending rapper Lil Baby’s birthday party in Atlanta, and videos and pictures of Harden hanging out in Las Vegas nightclubs have circulated on social media in the past couple of days.

The NBA has not announced any disciplinary action due to Harden’s violations of the league’s COVID-19 protocols, which require players to quarantine except for essential activities and team-sanctioned workouts and forbid players from attending parties and clubs.