Although Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook is making progress towards recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, the All-Star point guard has still ways to go until he returns to the basketball court. According to OKC’s coach Billy Donovan, Westbrook is still not cleared for full contact practice at the moment and remains doubtful for the season opener against Golden State Warriors next Tuesday.
“Every day for him, he feels better and better,” – said Donovan on Thursday. “I don’t want to say [if he’ll be ready]. I know you guys want to know that, but that’s too far out, and there will be a lot of things that will go into that decision.”
“There’s certain things he’ll have to go through to get himself fully cleared to play, but he’s certainly moving in the right direction and he’s worked really hard at his rehab to get himself back.” – he added.
Russell Westbrook underwent surgery, described as a pre-emptive measure, in early September after feeling “stiffness” in his right knee. While this was the same knee that Westbrook had three surgeries on earlier, the sources close to OKC organization said that the issue wasn’t alarming.
It is most likely that Thunder won’t risk getting Westbrook back to the court earlier since backup point guard Dennis Schroder showed during the preseason that he can step in and be a capable playmaker.
