The Cleveland Cavaliers are patiently waiting for their star point guard to make his debut with the team. Originally, the hope was that he might be able to return in time for the big Christmas game against the Golden State Warriors. He's obviously not going to meet that timeline. What his timeline is going forward, however, remains a mystery. The team has been saying one thing, while isaiah thomas has been saying something entirely different - and confounding - on his various social media profiles.

What Thomas is saying

Thomas has been posting and re-posting videos of him training and getting shots up.

He's not going too hard in any of those videos, with light training appearing to be the message of any given day. But there was one message that had Cavaliers fans celebrating earlier in the week. The Twitter post seemed to imply that the point guard was ready to come back very soon and tear up the league in a matter of weeks.

That tweet suggests a return - and a return to dominance - is near. But the hashtag he uses for many of his posts don't seem to reflect that reality. He often puts "#ThatSLOWgrind" into his tweets, relating to the long road to recovery he's endured since his hip problem arose last season.

It could mean that this process is finally coming to an end, just very slowly. But it could also be a sign that Thomas is tempering expectations surrounding his return.

The disappointment of a delayed return would rip Cavaliers fans to the core.

What Cleveland is saying

Cleveland has been tight-lipped about Thomas' recovery in an effort to tide off any misplaced expectations. He did warm up with the Cavaliers before a recent game, showing his recovery off to a wider array of fans. He also took a trip to the Canton Charge to get in some practice time. By all indications, it would appear as if a return may be imminent, as soon as this week.

The Cavaliers have almost been radio silent on the issue recently, though. In fact, nobody outside of Thomas himself has said much in the past couple of weeks. Whether that's to leverage a competitive advantage or because of a fear of a setback remains unclear. But his return could be anytime between the week and the month, judging from the guard's words and the team's lack thereof.

There's little doubt that Thomas will provide an MVP-caliber boost to the Cleveland Cavaliers. There's plenty of doubt as to when that injection of energy will be arriving on the court.
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