James Harden joins 76ers after turbulent offseason, but what comes next?

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — James Harden is back with the Philadelphia 76ers — for now.

After calling Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a “liar” and vowing to “never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of” in mid-August, the 34-year-old former MVP, who wants to be traded to the Clippers, returned to the floor with his teammates on day two of Sixers camp at Colorado State University on Wednesday. First-year Sixers coach Nick Nurse said that Harden, who skipped the team’s media day on Monday and was also absent from the first day of camp a day later, took part in “the majority of” practice and appeared to be “physically in good shape.”

The question now is whether he’ll keep showing up from here.

While league sources say that Harden intends to keep Philadelphia guessing about what he might do next, there was a strong sense from the Sixers’ side that this was a step in the right direction toward a possible reconciliation. Harden is slated to be a free agent next summer, and Sixers officials had held out hope that the realities that came with his uncertain future would inspire him to return to the team and play at a high level until the season’s end. League sources, however, say that Harden is still as adamant as ever that he wants a trade to the Clippers and that he has no intention of truly mending these fences with the Sixers.

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Nurse, the former Toronto Raptors coach who replaced Doc Rivers after he was fired by the Sixers in mid-May, was non-committal when asked if he expected Harden to remain engaged with the Sixers from here on out. The Sixers conclude camp on Friday, with a preseason opener in Boston looming on Sunday.

“I think that, yeah, he’s here,” Nurse said with a smile. “He knows the schedule, right? And we expect him to be here. I think we can wait and see on all that stuff.”

Nurse’s skepticism comes with good reason. For a day, though, the Sixers were whole again.

Required reading

• Amick: Nick Nurse’s 76ers open camp a mile high, with a Harden-sized cloud closer than ever
• Joel Embiid’s 76ers — with or without James Harden — still have title hopes and ‘a job to do’

(Photo: Bob DeChiara / USA Today)