For the first time in nearly a year, Jaden Ivey is available to play a regular-season game for the Detroit Pistons.
The former lottery pick has been out since Jan. 1 when he suffered a broken left fibula that ended his season early and after making one preseason appearance was sidelined for another month due to an arthroscopic procedure on his knee.
The amount of time on the court he sees for the Pistons Saturday night against the Milwaukee Bucks might be limited as he ramps up to a normal work load.
But it’s a huge step for the 23-year-old guard as he will make his season debut for the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons.
“All of his teammates are excited, he’s excited, obviously,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said before the game in Milwaukee. “The journey that he’s been on to get to this point has been a struggle. It’s frustrating, it’s emotional, it’s all those things. But you watch the way that he approached the work and he put himself in position to come back even stronger than when he left.”
Before suffering his injury, Ivey posted a career-best 17.6 points per game on 46% shooting from the field and 41% from three-point range.
“He looks good. You almost forget how fast and explosive he is,” Bickerstaff said. “His ability to explode from a stop to a start and get to full speed on his first step is remarkable.”
Ivey isn’t the only player returning to the team on Saturday as veteran forward Tobias Harris is also set to be active for Detroit after missing nine straight games due to a right ankle sprain.
Before the injury, the 14-year NBA veteran was averaging 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists in six appearances as a starter.
Both Harris and Ivey participated at shootaround Saturday morning and went through their typical pre-game warmup routine at Fiserv Forum ahead of the game.
Harris is slotting right back into the starting five, while Ivey will come off the bench and likely play a limited role as he continues reconditioning.
While the pair have been absent, the Pistons haven’t had any trouble getting positive results.
Detroit enters Saturday’s game on an 11-game winning streak. The franchise-best winning streak is 13 games, accomplished twice in 1990 and the 2003-04 season.
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