According to Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post, Denver Nuggets point guard Isaiah Thomas is about one month away from being fully cleared to play following offseason hip surgery.
At the time of Thomas’ surgery (March 28), the reported recovery time was excepted to be four months. If Thomas is fully cleared to play by the beginning of September, that would put his recovery just one month over the reported time table and puts him right in line to be fully healthy when the Nuggets begin training camp later that month.
“I’m just focused on getting healthy, and doing whatever I can to be as healthy as possible and going out there and competing,” Thomas told The Washington Post in an interview at Team USA camp last week.
Doing as much as he could at Team USA practices this past week, Thomas said he should “for sure” be ready when the Nuggets open training camp in just over a month and a half.
After a breakout season with the Sacramento Kings in 2013-2014, Thomas discussed how reuniting with Nuggets head coach Michael Malone played a huge role in him signing with Denver this offseason.
“Be a playoff team,” he said, when asked what his expectations were for his upcoming season in Denver. “That’s the goal. They were one game from the playoffs [last year]. I’m just there to help, in any way I can possibly help. I know Mike Malone trusts who I am, as a player and a person, and he’s going to give me the opportunity, and I’m going to take advantage of it,” Thomas told the Washington Post.
Thomas averaged 20.3 points during his lone season under coach Malone and comes into the Nuggets as a career 18.9 points per game scorer. If years past are any indication of Thomas’ scoring ability, the Nuggets might’ve just added the missing piece to help them make it back to the postseason.
The Nuggets have taken a chance on a number of different players this offseason, and Thomas’ situation is no different. First, drafting two guys coming off injuries in Michael Porter Jr. and Jarred Vanderbilt, then signing Thomas, whose coming off a rough 2017-2018 season just one year removed from being a potential MVP. Thomas knows what’s at stake as he looks to ignite his career once again, and his drive to prove the doubters wrong might be higher than ever before.
“I don’t got nothing to prove. I just got to get healthy. I get healthy, the world knows what I bring to the table. When I averaged 30, they doubted it then. So it doesn’t matter. No matter how high or how low it gets, they’re always going to doubt.”