Now that he’s had a successful acl surgery (thank goodness 🙏) what’s the expectations of the rehab process length and what he can produce onwards from his return?

13 comments
  1. my guess is after allstar next year, if our record isn’t in the dumpster

    if it is, might keep him out whole season

  2. There’s always a bit of variance due to swelling etc impacting how quickly you can progress the recovery. Generally if it’s just the ACL and no other surrounding damage, the best doctors and surgeons will have an athlete back in full training at around 9 months.

    Add in extra time to make sure reinjury chances are as low as possible, I’d say around Christmas if there are no significant setbacks. At Jimmy’s age it could easily be slower than that, they’ll have a better idea at around 3 months.

  3. You guys don’t know jimmy. If anyone is gonna overcome this it’s him. He’s been through worse and come out 1000x better. This ain’t shit to jimmy

  4. I don’t think he’s gonna be back at all even next season he’s older than alot of other guys that also tore their ACLs. The timeline just doesn’t work. If they want to compete next season then I think the FO needs to trade him during the summer. Attach like 2 picks for Kawhi or something.

  5. ACL recovery typically falls within 9-12 month range, which would put his return between October 2026 and February 2027. Melton lost 1 calendar year and he’s 10 years younger.
    FYI, Butler will be the oldest player ever to return from a torn ACL in all of sports. I’d expect a 15-20% drop in numbers and a managed workload, 20ppg -> 16ppg but it’s hard to say. Melton is a more productive player now than he’s been in a while, it’s possible Butler will heal/strengthen other parts of his body during the 1 year off. Perhaps he’ll improve other parts of his game like long range shooting, we’ll see.

  6. You don’t want to rush things, but OTOH, there’s a clock ticking based on his age, too. If he’s not expected to be back next year (and effective), then we should just waive and stretch him. I’m not sure if we can go for a Disabled Player Exception if he’s not going to play at all next season.

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