Report: James Harden out against Heat, ‘as part of his scheduled left hamstring management’

The top-two teams in the Eastern Conference will square off Saturday night when the Miami Heat welcome the surging Philadelphia 76ers to town. That game will now be without James Harden, who is sidelined “as part of his scheduled left hamstring management,” which was first reported by Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The news has since been confirmed by the NBA’s injury report, where Harden is ruled out for “left hamstring; injury recovery.”

Harden missed four games with both the Sixers and Brooklyn Nets while dealing with this hamstring issue. However, it hasn’t seemingly affected his play thus far in Philadelphia, where he’s averaging 26.8 points, 12 assists, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals on 79.8 percent true shooting across four games.

Miami is also missing at least one key player for tonight’s marquee matchup. Kyle Lowry is out due to personal reasons. Jimmy Butler (left big toe irritation), PJ Tucker (left knee pain), Max Strus (right shoulder sprain) and Caleb Martin (left Achilles soreness) are all listed as questionable.

Apparently, as one left-handed former Brooklyn Net exits, another one enters. DeAndre Jordan is available tonight, according to Justin Grasso of SI Now.

Despite all the potential and confirmed absences, Saturday’s battle should still be a fun one.