CLEVELAND -- Before the Cleveland Cavaliers' 115-112 win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue announced that Isaiah Thomas was ruled out for the team's Christmas Day showdown against the Golden State Warriors.
What he didn't say was whether Thomas would play against the Bulls.
Shortly after Lue's pregame remarks, Thomas was put on the Cavs' active roster and then slipped on a jersey and participated in warm-ups for the first time all season after being sidelined because of a torn labrum in his hip.
Cavs associate head coach Larry Drew -- filling in for Lue, who spent the night in the locker room because of an illness -- insisted he never considered playing Thomas.
"That wasn't going to happen tonight," Drew said. "We knew Isaiah would dress out tonight. This kid has been on the sideline, and he's been working hard for quite a long time. Decision was made to let him dress out tonight and let him get a little sweaty in the layup line. Our intentions were to dress him out and not play him."
But Thomas, who hasn't played in an NBA game since Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals in May, had other ideas.
"I could have at least made the free throws at the end of the game," Thomas said. "I was trying to get in there, but they wasn't hearing it."
While Thomas didn't a log a minute against Chicago, earlier in the day he played a full-court scrimmage against members of the Canton Charge, the Cavs' G League affiliate.
"It felt good," said Thomas, who aggravated an existing hip injury in last season's playoffs and has been recovering from it since being dealt to Cleveland in the offseason trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston. "I was able to do what I want out there, it's just I have no rhythm at all. Like I haven't played a 5-on-5 [game] since the end of May, so that part will come with more repetition. Hopefully I can get that sooner rather than later, but the movement part, I'm pretty good with that, so everything felt for the most part, felt good. I was happy to be able to do that because I was out so long."
Thomas said he was unsure if he would practice again with the Charge, who brought their players to the Cavs' practice facility in Independence, Ohio, to accommodate Thomas for the run. Thomas said he would not play an actual game with the Charge, however.
"Maybe [play] at L.A. Fitness or something. But I won't play no game," he said. "Hopefully I can try to get some practices in."
The Cavs, who have held only three practices during their current stretch of 19 wins in their past 21 games, have rare back-to-back practices planned Saturday in Cleveland and Sunday in San Francisco leading up to their Finals rematch against Golden State.
In September, when the Cavs set Thomas' timetable to return to game action for the end of the year, many circled the Christmas Day game as an obvious motivating factor. But Thomas said he's at peace with sitting it out.
"That was a target for my kids," Thomas said. "So they mad, but I'm fine with it. I have no rhythm, so there is no way I can play in an actual game right now and be very effective like I'm used to being. Slowly that will come back and I'll get a feel for it. I also got to get in some shape. That was probably the toughest part today, the going up and down constantly, being a little winded. The basketball part, I had a smile on my face the whole practice because I felt like a basketball player again."
And like any full-fledged basketball player, he was subject to some collegial heckling from his teammates. When Thomas entered the locker room before the Bulls game, Jeff Green shook his hand and said, "Good to still see you all in one piece." And when Thomas answered reporters' questions after the game, several Cavs players started shouting, "League sources!" referencing a recent tweet of Thomas' in which he challenged a Yahoo! Sports report that said he was targeting early January for his Cavs debut.
"To have Isaiah out there in warm-ups with us, going through our prayer, going through the starting lineups and everything with us, it's just another step in the right direction," LeBron James said.
Kevin Love added, "When we got in the huddle here right before the game, we brought it in. And everybody hyped it up and kind of gassed it. That was a fun moment for all of us and I think he appreciated it."
Following the Warriors game, the Cavs play Wednesday in Sacramento, where Thomas started his career; Dec. 30 in Utah; Jan. 2 at home against the Portland Trail Blazers; and Jan. 3 in Boston.
Thomas was still unwilling to specify he would make his debut, but he said he knows it is coming soon.
"I feel like a basketball player again," Thomas said. "I wasn't feeling like a basketball player. I hadn't really touched a ball. Getting traded, that was brand new to me. It was tough. Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can see where I fit in at. I don't know. It's exciting. I'm excited to be able to take that next step."
And Thursday provided an early Christmas gift.
"When I was out there in warm-ups, it just felt like I was a rookie again, like my first game," Thomas said. "I haven't been in an arena like that where you're warming up, you're with teammates, that's so new right now. I've been down since May, so just being out there put a smile on my face. It was everything. Put a jersey on and feel like I was part of the team, that day is coming sooner rather than later."