PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers went to Milwaukee without James Harden and the NBA wants to know why.
The league, which strengthened its rules about resting healthy players this summer, is investigating the reasons behind Harden's absence from the 76ers' nationally televised season opener against the Bucks.
“We're looking into the facts around James Harden's availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.
Harden wants to be traded and was away from the Sixers recently until returning this week. Coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday that the point guard wouldn't travel with the team so he could work on rebuilding his conditioning with team staff members at the 76ers' training facility.
The player participation policy requires teams to demonstrate an approved reason for a star player to miss national TV games (such as Phoenix listing injuries for Devin Booker and Bradley Beal that have them missing the Suns' visit to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night).
Teams could be fined $100,000 for their first violation of the policy.