Harden hurt himself in the third quarter of Philadelphia’s home loss to Washington Wednesday night. He headed to the locker room holding a shoe but returned to play the final 7:15 of the 4th quarter. Harden hit two three-pointers and dished out two assists in a losing effort, but today they diagnosed him with a tendon strain.

At age 33, Harden is still playing heavy minutes. He’s currently 10th in the NBA with 36.8 minutes per game (Donovan Mitchell leads the league at 39.7 minutes thanks to Cleveland’s three overtime games). The mileage may have contributed to Harden’s foot strain, as well as returning to the game to play on the bad foot.

While Philadelphia will struggle to replace Harden’s ball handling and scoring, it does relieve some pressure on the team after their disappointing start. The Sixers are 4-5, tied for 8th in the Eastern Conference, in a season where anything short of a trip to the Finals would be a disappointment. It’s early, but there’s already talk about firing
Doc
Rivers, most notably from ESPN’s Zack Lowe. One fan even recorded a diss track.

Harden’s injury will lower the expectations for the Sixers to a more reasonable level. It’s early! The Sixers are currently have the seventh-best offensive rating in the league, but the 22nd-best defensive rating. They also play at the second-slowest pace in the league. Harden’s absence is going to hurt their offense, but it might help their sub-par defense, and allow them to play less deliberately on the offensive end.

Maybe Doc Rivers isn’t the right coach for Philadelphia, but changing coaches in November is a desperation move. You can tell, because the Brooklyn Nets did it. Harden’s bad foot might save him some wear and tear in the long run, and it might save Doc Rivers’ job.