Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti recently addressed a question whether Andre Roberson will be able to contribute when the season resumes.
Knee issues have sidelined Roberson for a little over two full years.
“The time has really helped ‘Dre. From a health standpoint, he’s doing really well,” Presti said. “The issues that we’re facing is that we have not had the opportunity to see him on the court in real basketball activity because everything is relegated to the one-on-zero still. I think we’re in a better place than we were March 11, that’s for sure, but we don’t know exactly where he’ll be once we get down to actually participating in contact and going through team practices and things of that nature.”
Presti also added that the team is “hopeful” that Roberson will be able to play this summer, but they haven’t seen him in contact practice.
As Erik Horne of The Athletic notes, it doesn’t make much sense for the Thunder to increase expectations for Roberson, or to say that he is ready before seeing how he’ll impact the chemistry of the current roster.
The current roster looks a lot different than it did when Roberson last played in January 2018.
Steven Adams and Terrance Ferguson are the only two players left from that Thunder team.
Roberson hinted about a possible return back in April, saying he was “almost to the point where I should be playing.”
It seems like that point might be coming.
