Cleveland Cavaliers: An Isaiah Thomas injury update
The Cavaliers finally gave an updated timetable on Isaiah Thomas’s hip after not addressing it in his introductory press conference.
The organization expects Isaiah Thomas to be back from his torn labrum by the beginning of January. The organization stated:
"“Isaiah Thomas has successfully continued with the rehabilitation process related to his right hip impingement. Based on his progress thus far, and after several weeks of evaluation and monitoring with the Cavaliers medical team and Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, the team and Thomas are hopeful he will be in position to return by January. His status will be updated again, along with any further timeline adjustments, after the start of the regular season.”"
Thomas could be back just in time for their matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas or their January 15th meeting.
Thomas assured reporters at media day that he is progressing every day. He’s confident that he can return to All-NBA form. That was, after all, Kobe’s challenge to him this offseason. All-NBA would be quite a feat for the undersized point guard.
Starting the season without their starting point guard is nothing new for LeBron and company. The timetable for Thomas is similar to the one Kyrie Irving had when he injured his knee in the 2015 Finals. Irving missed the first part of the Cavs’ championship season in 2015-16 rehabbing his injury. Like Thomas, he didn’t return until around the new year.
Like their championship season, the Cavs have a more than capable backup point guard to step in. Newly acquired Derrick Rose is expected to start in Thomas’s absence. Rose is coming off of a solid year for the New York Knicks where he averaged 18.0 points per game on 47.1% shooting from the field.
Rose is looking forward to the opportunity he will have in the beginning of the year. He sees this as a chance to win a championship and elevate his game back to the level that it was before his history of injuries.
LeBron is among one of his biggest supporters, by stating that he’s among Rose’s biggest supporters in Cleveland. He believes that Rose is still a premium point guard that has a lot to offer this team.
The Cavs will have to wait until January to integrate Thomas into the system.
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In the meantime, we’ll have the opportunity to see if Rose can recapture his all-star form.