On Monday, a report emerged Russell Westbrook has been practicing with “controlled contact.” That is a great sign for the OKC Thunder.
OKC Thunder guard Russell Westbrook underwent a knee scope to “clean some things up” in early September. It was said at the time he would miss the entire training camp session and all of the preseason. To date, that is still true. However, since that September afternoon, Thunder fans have been wondering: will Russell Westbrook be ready for game one of the season?
Since the Thunder tip-off the regular season in Golden State when they’ll bear witness to the Warriors (and former teammate Kevin Durant) get their rings the assumption was yes.
The OKC Thunder brass still slow played it, reminding everyone that the re-evaluation date set for October 10th was just that — a re-evaluation, not the target date to return to the floor. With Dennis Schröder exploding onto the scene this preseason, it helps take the “pressure” off of Westbrook to speed up his recovery.
Today though, head coach Billy Donovan served up a little tidbit of news. This prior to the expected concrete update scheduled for Wednesday.
Billy Donovan today said Russell Westbrook is progressing every day. Donovan said RW has not been in full contact, but some “very controlled" contact. Wednesday will mark four weeks from Westbrook's arthroscopic knee surgery, the time he was scheduled to be re-evaluated.
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) October 8, 2018
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Did Billy Donovan accidentally let the cat out of the bag? We saw earlier this week that these time tables are fickle. Andre Roberson just suffered a set back that will keep him out until at least December. Having Russell Westbrook going through some contact before the month is out, and the team re-evaluates his knee is a great sign.
Anyone following the ins and outs of this story should feel very optimistic in the fact Russell Westbrook will return to the floor in time for their season opener. The question now becomes, will he be effective? Last year, when dealing with knee injections that caused him to miss training camp, he started the season slow.
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