Thompson (Achilles) was cleared Sunday to resume participating fully in all future Warriors practices, and he's now trending toward making his season debut about a week before Golden State's Christmas Day game in Phoenix, Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic report.
Christmas Day has always been the target date for Thompson to make his first appearance in a game since the 2019 NBA Finals, but the Warriors are seemingly comfortable pushing the shooting guard's timeline up a few days after he recently checked out fine following a week of 5-on-5 scrimmaging. While the Warriors' practices tend to be lighter in intensity during the regular season, the upcoming sessions should be vital in Thompson building up his conditioning and regaining comfort on the court following his June 2019 surgery to repair a torn left ACL and November 2020 procedure to repair a torn right Achilles' tendon. Whenever Thompson is cleared to make his 2021-22 debut, he's expected to be limited to around 18-to-22-minute appearances initially, and likely, some restrictions during back-to-back sets. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has said that Thompson won't make his season debut in a road game, so the team's Dec. 20 matchup with the Kings could be the new target date for the 31-year-old to rejoin the lineup.