Sources: Nuggets hopeful of Feb. return for IT

There is optimism that former All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas will make his debut with the Denver Nuggets prior to the mid-February All-Star Break, league sources told ESPN on Friday.

Thomas has been gathering momentum in his rehabilitation process from hip surgery in March, and there’s hope among Thomas and the Nuggets organization he could return as soon as a Feb. 11-13 homestand against Miami and Sacramento, sources said.

There’s strong confidence that he will return no later than the first game of the post-All Star break on Feb. 22 in Dallas, league sources said.

The final hurdle for Thomas remains playing full five-on-five scrimmages Thomas is expected to start that process soon. Thomas signed a one-year deal with Denver in July.

Thomas, 29, would be returning to a Nuggets team that is currently within one-half game of first place Golden State in the West, and employing a bevy of talented guards, including Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Malik Beasley, Will Barton and Monte Morris.

Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game for the Boston Celtics in 2016-17, a second-team All-NBA season that appeared to be clearing the way for a long-term, $100 million contract. Nevertheless, an injury on the same right hip that cut short his playoffs in 2017 and cost him eight months of rehab and led to a trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer, upended his hopes for that kind of long-term deal.

Thomas joined the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a trade-deadline deal with Cleveland, where he had played only 15 games in 2017-18.