James Harden, other Sixers vets sit out of Blue X White scrimmage

WILMINGTON, Del.–The Philadelphia 76ers took the trip down I-95 to head to their G League facility in Delaware on Saturday to play in their annual Blue X White scrimmage. It is a day for the fans to get a close look at their team before the season starts.

The Sixers divided the team up to Team Maxey (Blue) and Team Melton (White) and coach Nick Nurse decided to let the players coach. Team Maxey was led by veterans Tobias Harris and PJ Tucker while Team Melton was led by Joel Embiid, Patrick Beverley, and Danny Green. Those five players did not participate in the scrimmage.

There was a noticeable absence as James Harden was not introduced before the scrimmage and he did not participate in the coaching duties either. He did warm up with the team before the scrimmage, however.

Afterward, Nurse explained that while the team did practice on Saturday morning, the plan was to not have the veterans play. That included Harden.

“We had the practice,” Nurse started when asked about Harden. “I told everybody yesterday (Friday) that we’re going through normal practice, and there’ll be skill work afterwards. As you can see, I kind of put all the veterans out of the game, etc. So I’m cool.”

Harden spoke on Friday about the situation and it does appear that he still wants out. He has been practicing with the team and he has been a complete professional. He did add that he intends to play in Philadelphia’s final preseason game on Oct. 20 against the Atlanta Hawks. That remains to be seen.

Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire