Banged up James Harden could cost Philadelphia 76ers a deep playoff run

The Philadelphia 76ers have been pretty consistent all season long, but nagging injuries to James Harden could rob this team of a deep playoff run.

At this point in the season, with only a handful of games left before the start of the postseason, the Philadelphia 76ers are pretty much locked into the third seed in the Eastern Conference standings.

Over the course of this season, the Sixers have proven that this is a team that is going to play a factor in which team comes out of the East. Joel Embiid is playing like an NBA MVP candidate once again and the team’s supporting cast has been good enough so far during the regular season.

However, heading into the playoffs, there is one potential factor to keep an eye on when it comes to the Sixers’ chances of making a deep run – Harden’s nagging injury.

Harden says that he’s been battling Achilles soreness for a while now. And it’s something that he’ll have to continue to monitor for the remainder of the season.

Could James Harden’s nagging injuries cost the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Playoffs?

If the Sixers are going to make a run to the Eastern Conference finals or even come out of the East, there’s no question that they’re going to need to be completely healthy. And at the least, they’re going to need a healthy Embiid and Harden.

As we saw last season, when one of their stars is not healthy, this team is a shell of itself. And while they’ve played relatively well this season, even when Embiid or Hardne have missed games due to injury or otherwise, the playoffs are an entirely different element.

The playoffs are where the stars take the lead. The playoffs are where star power is a necessity. Teams don’t generally make deep playoff runs with inconsistent performances from their stars.

And considering there is so much more at play for the Sixers heading into this year’s postseason run, this nagging injury or injury concern, however, you want to label it, for Harden is something to keep a close eye on.

If it is something that could end up limiting him or forcing him to even miss a game or two here and there, there’s no question that it could end up being at the forefront of possibly costing the Sixers a realistic shot at a deep playoff run.