Report: Isaiah Thomas May Make Nuggets Debut vs. Kings After Hip Surgery Recovery

Denver Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas, who has spent the entire season recovering from hip surgery last March, will "decide early in the day about possibly making his season debut versus Sacramento on Wednesday," according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Per Woj, Thomas has been upgraded to questionable on Denver's injury report.

Thomas, 30, has had a tough go of it the past two seasons. After leading the Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2016-17 campaign, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Kyrie Irving deal. 

But things never got off the ground in Cleveland. Thomas missed a chunk of the season with a hip injury, and in the 15 games he did play for the Cavaliers, he never quite fit with the team, averaging just 14.7 points per game a year after posting 28.9 points per contest with the Celtics.

Thomas was then dealt at the trade deadline to the Los Angeles Lakers in a series of moves that reshaped the Cavaliers in LeBron James' last season with the team. Thomas largely came off the bench for the Lakers, posting 15.6 points and 5.0 assists per game.

He then suffered another hip surgery in March, and injury issues depressed his value in free agency. He ultimately signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Nuggets, with the expectation that he would come off the bench to provide a scoring punch behind starting point guard Jamal Murray.

In the interim, the Nuggets have thrived, going 38-18 this season behind superstar center Nikola Jokic and an impressive supporting cast that includes Murray, Paul Millsap, Gary Harris and Will Barton, among others. Having another player like Thomas to potentially provide an offensive spark off the bench should only help, even if his defensive liabilities could limit his impact in the postseason. 

It will be interesting, however, to see if Thomas' return eats into Monte Morris' minutes. The second-year point guard has been excellent this season, averaging 10.8 points and 3.9 assists per game.

Thomas may be returning, but with players like Morris and Malik Beasley on Denver's bench, it's still unclear just how much of a role he will play.