Boston Celtics star Rajon Rondo was medically cleared on Friday to participate in full-contact practices and is expected to return to games in January, ESPN reports.
Rondo visited Dr. James Andrews, the doctor who performed Rondo's ACL surgery, on Friday. After an examination, Andrews cleared Rondo to fully participate in all practice activities.
"[Rondo] had a good trip [Friday], as far as getting good news, and it looks like he's on schedule to be closer, but still probably doesn't look like we're going to see him on the court any time this month," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, via ESPN. "Hopefully as we get into January, he'll be closer."
Stevens didn't waste any time and let Rondo partake in a "spirited" 45-minute practice session on Saturday, in which after both Stevens and teammate Brandon Bass said Rondo looked good.
While Stevens anticipates Rondo to play in January, the first-year coach declined to offer a more specific timetable.
"He won't play in games, is what I've been told, until after the first of the year," Stevens said. "And that still is, we're talking in big generalities there. I don't know when that means. It could mean a month from now, it could mean six weeks from now. There's a lot of different variables that have to be met for him to be cleared for games."
Rondo suffered the season-ending knee injury in January and underwent surgery in February. Stevens admitted he hasn't given much thought to how he'll reintegrate Rondo, who'll have to adapt to a new coach and a new system after being sidelined for almost a year.
"I haven't thought a ton about it, because it really hasn't presented itself and it still isn't going to present itself in the very, very near future," said Stevens. "... Certainly, you're thinking about how you're going to, not only get him into it, [and] ease him into it, but how you're going to manage everything around that."
