Report: Cavs Eyeing January Return for Isaiah Thomas

The Cavaliers have won 18 of 19 to get to 23-8 for the season without Thomas.

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas is hoping to return from his hip injury in early January, The Vertical's Shams Charania reports. 

However, Thomas referenced the report with a tweet that said, "Cavs guard Isaiah Thomas is targeting the first week of April to make his debut, league sources tell IT!" He followed that tweet with another that read, "I guess all you have to say is 'league Sources tell....' and your article or whatever is legit lol." It is unclear if he is actually disputing that he could return in January.

Thomas, who was traded to Cleveland from the Celtics in the deal that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston, has not played at all this season due to a hip injury he suffered on March 15. The official diagnosis was a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear. He returned to the team but re-aggravated the injury in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semi finals against the Wizards and did not play the rest of the season. Boston was eventually eliminated by the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals in five games. 

Cleveland started the season 5-7 but have won 18 of 19 to get to 23-8 on the season. 

Interestingly enough, the Cavs play at the Celtics on Jan. 3, meaning Thomas' return could conceivably come against the team that traded him to Cleveland in the offseason. 

Thomas, 28, was named second-team All-NBA last season in Boston. The two-time All-Star averaged 28.9 points, 5.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds as the Celtics went 53-29.