James Harden leaves Game 1 against the Bucks with concerning injury

Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden had to leave Game 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks almost immediately because of an apparent injury.

It took about one minute for the Nets series with the Bucks to get very, very interesting.

Brooklyn guard James Harden started Game 1, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to finish it.

Almost as soon as the game began, Harden left the court and headed for the locker room.

The Nets confirmed that Harden injured his right hamstring. He will miss the remainder of the game.

James Harden appeared to injury his hamstring during Game 1

It may have happened on his very first drive of the game as Harden kicked the ball outside.

Concerningly, Harden has already dealt with hamstring problems on that side this year. He missed 21 games because of it during the regular season.

The question now is, how long it’ll be before he can take the court again? Hamstring injuries are notorious for lingering.

Fans were worried when he left.

That’s certainly not the start Brooklyn will have hoped for coming into the second-round series.

While they still have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, their NBA title hopes are tied to having that trio of stars available. Losing one of them seconds into what figures to be a tough series with the Bucks is a huge blow. It will be significantly harder for the Nets to contend for the championship if Harden is hampered by his hamstring.

He was electric in the 4-1 series against Boston, averaging 27.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 10.6 assists, 1.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. His triple-double helped close out the series in Game 5.

It’ll be a test for Durant and Irving to make up for Harden’s absence. The former averaged 32.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks against the Celtics. Irving averaged 24.8 points and 6.4 assists facing his former team.