Ricky Council VI loves sharing first name with father, brothers; James Harden remains no-show

Ricky Council VI dons his name with pride.

“I love my name,” the 76ers two-way player said. “I mean, it’s different.”

While typical on its face, what’s different is that Council shares a first name with his father, Ricky Council Sr., and older brothers, Ricky Council II and Ricky Council III.

“I’m happy to explain that to everybody, every city, every place, every new school I go to,” Council said. “So it’s very different. It comes with a lot of nicknames. I love it, shoot. It’s different. I like being different.”

The 24-year-old actually has multiple nicknames. He’s called “The Fourth” and “C4″ as a way to differentiate himself from his father and brothers.

With the same name as multiple members of his family, Council feels like he’s carrying on the Ricky legacy, one that is interwoven in basketball.

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His father played in high school.

Ricky Council II played at Providence and Maryland-Baltimore County. Meanwhile, Ricky Council III played junior college basketball at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Council also has an older sister, Rhianna, who played at St. Bonaventure and North Carolina-Greensboro.

“All of our goals were to go to the NBA,” Council said. “My sister’s goal was to go to the WNBA. Being the youngest, me making it is like a real accomplishment.

“My family is proud of me and rooting for me. So it’s definitely something that I’m trying to carry on for their kids and my kids, too.”

Council was the 2022 American Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year at Wichita State before transferring to Arkansas, where he was named second-team All-Southeastern Conference. He signed his two-way deal with the Sixers after he was not selected in June’s draft.

Disgruntled Sixers point guard James Harden was not at Friday morning’s shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center and also missed that evening’s game.

He missed the first three preseason games because he said he was “ramping up” his conditioning. The 34-year-old had said he would make his preseason debut against the Atlanta Hawks in Friday’s preseason finale. He missed Friday’s game along with rookie post player Filip Petrušev and two-way guard Terquavion Smith.

Harden, who wants to be traded, has been a no-show this week at practice. A league source says Harden has been in Houston since traveling there following Sunday’s practice at the Sixers practice facility in Camden. The Sixers played the Brooklyn Nets on the road Monday and were off Tuesday.

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Harden did not report to practice Wednesday and Thursday.

The Sixers said he is away from the team for a personal matter. There are reports that Harden is attending to his ailing mother. But he’s also frustrated that the Sixers haven’t progressed in trade talks with the Los Angeles Clippers. Harden opted into the final year of his contract on June 30 with the belief that the Sixers would trade him to the Clippers.

Joel Embiid and Furkan Korkmaz made their preseason debuts against the Hawks.

Embiid missed the first two games while “ramping up” his conditioning and the third game because of an illness. Korkmaz was sidelined with a hamstring strain.

“Finally, finally,” Korkmaz said of making his debut. “It’s been a long training camp, a long wait. We will see how it’s going to happen.”

Korkmaz injured his hamstring on the first day of training camp at Colorado State University on Oct. 3.

Danuel House Jr. will also play Friday night after missing the last two games with knee tendinitis. House and reserve center Paul Reed were the last two Sixers on the court after shootaround before the Hawks took the floor.