Wizards guard Thomas practices; status for opener TBA

Washington Wizards point guard Isaiah Thomas practiced on Sunday and may be nearing a return.

“I’d love to have him for the first game,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters. “We’ll see. Probably not, but we’ll see.”

Thomas is 5-foot-9 and signed a free agent deal with the Wizards during the offseason. The team said he was expected to miss six-to-eight weeks following thumb surgery Sept. 18.

Thomas appeared in just 12 games last with the Denver Nuggets, averaging 8.1 points. The Wizards are his fourth team in three years.

He led the Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017, averaging of 28.9 points. But he suffered a major hip injury during that series vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers and hasn’t been as productive since.

Thomas was traded to the Cavs as part of the deal for Kyrie Irving, then traded that same season to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers opted not re-sign him last summer, when he landed a one-year deal with the Nuggets.

“Nobody knew what to expect with me coming off hip surgery last year, and two summers of rehab,” Thomas told ESPN recently. “Now, I can go back to being a gym rat this summer, work on my game again, and build my body back up — my muscle mass, my leg strength — all like I had going into the 2017 season.”

The Wizards open the season Wednesday at the Dallas Mavericks.