What Must James Harden Do Before He Can Join Rockets’ Group Workouts?

James Harden isn’t eligible to join the Houston Rockets’ practices just yet, and he’s got a quite a road to travel to get there.

Harden must return six negative COVID-19 tests before he can return to group workouts, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Should each of his first six tests come back clean, he could join his team as early as Monday.

The NBA required players preparing to practice with their respective teams to quarantine and return three consecutive negative COVID-19 tests beforehand. But that apparently doesn’t apply to Harden’s situation.

Head coach Stephen Silas said the team still is “trying to iron all that stuff out” at the moment.

“It’s really hard to kind of put a finger on what the protocol looks like at this point just because of how the timing is,” Silas said, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “It’s not the same timing that everybody else had, right? As far as when he can start doing individual workouts, when he can join the team, when he can practice, we’re working with the NBA, trying to figure out exactly when that is.

“But as far as I know right now, there isn’t a clear plan as far as what that looks like, just because it’s outside of the way that we were doing it with the original group.”

This, of course, comes after Harden did not attend training camp this weekend. He was seen partying maskless in Las Vegas the night before training camp began and reported to the team facility Tuesday.

Harden reportedly is interested in leaving Houston, too, for the right price.