Dwyane Wade is back. Well, only in a literal sense because in terms of his game being back, that's not back quite yet.
Wade returned to the floor on Thursday in Miami's exhibition game against the Clippers in Beijing, scoring just five points on 2-for-9 shooting.
LeBron James scored 20 points and the Heat beat the Clippers, 94-80. Ray Allen added 15 points, including four 3-pointers. Blake Griffin had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers.
But the story is really Wade, who is coming off summer knee surgery that forced him to miss the Summer Olympics. The knee bothered him throughout the playoffs, but he battled through it and it paid off.
Wade, 30, missed roughly a quarter of last season with a number of issues, but especially his left knee, which caused him a lot of trouble in the second round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. After getting his knee drained, he found a little of his old zip, playing well in the NBA Finals win over the Oklahoma Thunder.
The expectation has been that Wade would be at 100 percent for the Heat's regular season opener against the Celtics on Oct. 30. And while he didn't look like himself Thursday, it's going to take some time for him to find his rhythm again.
