Rajon Rondo is just about ready to get back to playing basketball, with an assist from equipment reminiscent of a very different sport.
Wearing what Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens called “almost a baseball mitt,” the point guard was cleared for full-contact practice Friday, Stevens told reporters at the team’s practice facility. Rondo’s promise that he would be ready for Wednesday’s regular-season opener no longer looks so crazy.
“(Rondo will) go through the whole practice (Friday) and it will just be a matter of how big that pad is,” Stevens said, according MassLive’s Jay King. “I think that’s the biggest thing moving forward. It’s really about getting hit or not. So, obviously, see how he feels after this.”
The Celtics have the weekend off before returning to practice Monday. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday that once Rondo returned to practice, a doctor would need to make sure the bone has healed, and then Rondo would have to pass some tests before being cleared to play in a game.
Rondo broke a metacarpal in his left hand Sept. 25 in a fall at his home and underwent surgery the next day. The original prognosis called for a six- to eight-week absence. Wednesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets would be just about five weeks since he sustained the injury.
Photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
