Nets star James Harden ruled out vs. Jazz
The Brooklyn Nets are on a season-long six-game losing streak and are fading in the Eastern Conference standings. On Friday night, they'll have to play on the road without not just one, but two of their vaunted "Big Three."
Although it was initially reported that Harden would be returning last week against the Golden State Warriors, the nine-time All-Star took one extra game off before suiting up for losses on Tuesday and Wednesday to the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings, respectively.
Durant is still out of action with a knee injury, and point guard Kyrie Irving is only available for road games because of his status as a player unvaccinated against COVID-19. Following Friday's game against the Jazz and Sunday's tilt against the Denver Nuggets, the Nets will play four of their next seven games at home, presumably without at least Durant and Irving.
Utah, meanwhile, has faced injury concerns of their own recently, as All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have both missed time and Joe Ingles tore his ACL last weekend. Mitchell could be back in the lineup on Friday, though, as he recently cleared the concussion protocol.
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