Isaiah Thomas Says Surgery on Injured Hip Is 'Not the No. 1 Option Right Now'

Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas confirmed Friday that surgery remains an option on his injured hip, but a final decision won't be made until the swelling subsides.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com passed along comments Thomas made during the team's exit interviews after getting eliminated from the 2017 NBA playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The guard missed the last three games with the ailment.

"[Surgery is] not the No. 1 option right now, but it could be once the swelling goes down," he said. "They want to let [the swelling] die down a little bit then take another MRI once everything is down and it's back to normal. We'll go from there. Hopefully I don't have to have surgery, but I know that is an option."

The Celtics announced after Game 2 that Thomas would miss the remainder of the postseason after a "re-aggravation of a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear." It's an injury that originally happened in March and could no longer be properly treated if he continued to play.

"Isaiah has worked tirelessly to manage this injury since it first occurred," Celtics chief medical officer Dr. Brian McKeon said. "The swelling increased during the first two games against Cleveland, and in order to avoid more significant long-term damage to his hip, we could no longer allow him to continue."

Boston head coach Brad Stevens praised Thomas for doing his best to perform despite a series of setbacks in recent weeks. His sister died one day before the playoffs started, he lost a tooth in the second round against the Washington Wizards and then the hip problem flared up.

"When you think about it, obviously this and the teeth are nothing compared to the way the playoffs started, losing his sister," Stevens told reporters. "I mean, he's had a remarkable, remarkable year through some really difficult circumstances."

He added: "The whole story is pretty remarkable. But again I think the best part about it from all of our standpoint was how inspiring it's been to have a guy that's done all this and accomplished all this and is willing to literally go out and leave it all out there."

Thomas emerged as an MVP candidate during the regular season by averaging 28.9 points, 5.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds across 67 games. He also shot a career-best 46.3 percent from the field and connected on 37.9 percent of his three-point attempts.

A timetable for a complete recovery won't be available until a decision is made about whether to have offseason surgery.