Ricky Rubio targeting Thursday for season debut

Ricky Rubio is targeting Thursday in Portland for his 2022-23 season debut, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the Cavaliers guard will practice on Wednesday and then suit up Thursday if there are no setbacks.

Rubio played a major role in the Cavaliers’ early-season success last season, but tore his left ACL on December 28 and has been recovering from the injury for over a year since then.

Following his injury, Rubio was traded to Indiana as a salary-matching piece for Caris LeVert and finished last season as a Pacer. However, the veteran point guard returned to Cleveland in free agency — the Cavs signed him to a three-year, $18.44M contract that is nearly fully guaranteed, reflecting their confidence that he’d make it back from his ACL tear and resume being a productive rotation player.

In the first half of 2021-22, Rubio matched a career-high by averaging 13.1 points per game to go along with 6.6 APG and 4.1 RPG in 34 appearances (28.5 MPG).

Even after he returns to action, it will probably take some time for the 32-year-old to resemble his old self, but simply having him available again will improve the depth in the Cavs’ backcourt. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland lead the team in minutes per game and Garland in particular has been banged up for much of the year, dealing with a series of injuries that have cost him nine total games.