Wednesday morning was the first time Russell Westbrook had seen Mike D'Antoni in over four months, so after waiting through D'Antoni's eight-minute Zoom call with reporters he made sure to butter up his head coach up a bit.
"You look good," Westbrook told the 69-year old D'Antoni. "You been working out?"
Russell Westbrook is back after completing his 36-hour quarantine in the NBA's bubble after arriving Monday and practiced with his teammates on Wednesday, and he made his presence known immediately.
"I didn't see him," Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said. "He walked by and smacked my neck. I didn't know he was out (of quarantine), so it was getting hit in the neck at 7:30 this morning."
Westbrook did not accompany the rest of the Rockets traveling party to Orlando on July 9 after registering a positive test for Covid-19. He said a stuffy nose was the only symptom he showed, but he says he's glad to finally be with his teammates again.
“Man, (I'm) very eager," Westbrook said. "I’d be lying if I wasn’t saying I was. Just being home, being by myself, away from my family, my teammates and the organization, so I’m definitely excited to get back on the floor & get things rolling.”
After practicing Wednesday, the Rockets will practice again Thursday ahead of Friday's scrimmage against the Toronto Raptors. D'Antoni said Monday it would be unlikely that Westbrook would play against the Raptors, but on Wednesday he left the door open.
"I think we'll wait the next two practices to see where he is," D'Antoni said. "See if he wants to be thrown out there real quick or if he wants another couple of days. Whatever he wants is cool. He knows his body, and we're not talking about just the normal athlete, we're talking about a super athlete."
Westbrook wanted to wait before committing to playing on Friday.
"I'm not sure I can make a layup at this point," he joked.
D'Antoni said he planned on having Westbrook go through at least 80 percent of the Rockets Wednesday practice, "being careful towards the end", and while nobody expects him to be 100 percent, Westbrook doesn't think it will take to get there.
"I'll take one day at a time. Then, when I'm back 100 percent, you will know."
The Rockets will play three scrimmages before their first seeding game on July 31 against the Dallas Mavericks.