James Harden’s race to return has him on the brink of a stunning comeback for Tuesday’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Nets star, out since Game 1 with a right hamstring injury, was upgraded from out to doubtful after an encouraging Tuesday morning workout, and then bumped up to questionable hours later.

“I think it’s positive,” Joe Harris said of the upgrade. “I don’t think they would throw that out there if his health was still in question. That’s the biggest thing at the end of the day that guys are healthy. You don’t ever want to put anybody in a compromised position because the worst thing that could happen is come back to early and then you start back over from where you were at in the beginning.”

And with Harden intent on trying to play against Milwaukee, he seems to be trending toward a return to the court – and a shot in the arm for his desperate Nets.

The Nets won the first two games without him at Barclays Center, but proceeded to drop the next two in Milwaukee to see the Bucks level the series and steal the momentum. They also lost Kyrie Irving to a sprained ankle, leaving them without Harden, Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie. In dire need of a point guard – and a victory – Harden has been desperately trying to get back on the floor.

“We’ll see,” Brooklyn coach Steve Nash had said. “We’ll see how he does with his workouts and how he progresses. I’ve tried to leave him alone as far as that goes, let him rehab. He’s still a big part of our team in meetings and when we travel and all that stuff. He’s just been great. I just want to let him do his work and focus on that. When he’s ready, he or the performance staff will let us know.”

Nash has described Harden’s tight right hamstring as “progressing in the right direction.” And struggling to define exactly what that progress was, he did say that Harden needed to string together consecutive days of high-intensity practice loads before being cleared to play. The star guard has moved a step or two closer to that.

Harden trained hard Monday morning upon the Nets’ return to Brooklyn, although was still designated as out. Then he worked his hamstring again in Tuesday morning’s shootaround and showed enough improvement to get upgraded. If he can come through pregame warmups unscathed, he may just have enough evidence to plead his case and get the performance team to clear him.

“I don’t know if (he’s out) or not. I might have to wait,” Nash said. “He’s working out so I have no idea if that means he has a chance for (Game 5) or not. I think there’s a plan behind the scenes that I don’t totally know what the deal is, and then they’ll give us an update. But he’s working out.”

Harden missed 18 straight games with a strained right hamstring near the end of the regular season. He got hurt again just :43 into the series opener against the Bucks on June 5, and hasn’t played since. That could be about to change.

It’s hard to overstate how important Harden is to Brooklyn, especially without Irving. The Nets are 34-8 when he starts, including a 5-1 mark in the playoffs. Without him? They’re just 20-19, including 1-2 in the postseason.

“Nothing has been communicated to me. To be honest, with our performance staff and the team there’s not a whole lot of dialogue with people that are not involved in it,” Harris said. “Unless I go snooping around, I don’t really know. I know about as much as you know.

“I have no idea, to be honest. All I know is that when we show up and 30’s on the clock and they put who’s matched up against who and who’s playing, that’s when I know who’s playing.”

It should be noted the Nets’ performance team is very conservative. Players listed as doubtful almost never suit up.

Irving had been questionable with a shoulder impingement on Nov. 14, 2019, got upgraded to probable and ended up logging 34:43 against the Nuggets. He got hurt and missed two months, briefly returning before needing season-ending surgery.

There could be an element of trying to protect Harden from himself. But with the Nets now in a best-of-three, the ultra-competitive Harden clearly wants to play.