Last season, Isaiah Thomas had a breakout year and emerged as a legitimate offensive star for the Boston Celtics.

Averaging a career-high 28.9 points on 46.3 percent shooting (also a career-high), Thomas added 5.9 assists per contest as the Celtics’ floor general.

But, Thomas’ season came to a screeching halt in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers when he re-aggravated a labral tear in his right hip that he initially suffered in March.

Despite the painful injury, Thomas elected not to undergo surgery and opted to rehab instead. Recently, he gave an update and provided a very optimistic outlook on his health.

“The hip is great,” Thomas told Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald at the beginning of the month. “It’s going well. Rehabbing it, but it’s going well. It’s a real slow rehab process, but it’s getting better and that’s what it’s all about… The decision (not to have surgery) was to sit and rest, and get my legs stronger, get my muscle back working again. We’re just going to try to get to 100 percent as quick as possible.”

He also made an ambitious prediction, saying, “I should be ready by camp, but I’m getting back in the gym shooting and being able to work out in the weight room and get my cardio back, because I’ve been down for two and a half months since the season ended. It’s getting there though. This week has been great progress for me.”

However, head coach Brad Steven made it clear that the organization plans on taking it nice and easy with Thomas.

“He has another follow-up and another scan in the early part of September. Obviously, it’s been a lot of appropriate rest, a lot of rehab. There have been some good strides here certainly in the last month or few weeks, but we’re not going to know that until after that early September timeframe,” Stevens told Chris Mannix on The Vertical Podcast.

The Celtics not only want to keep Thomas healthy so that they have a better chance of winning games, but also because Thomas could be a major trade piece in his contract year if the team elects to take that route. Since he’s been very vocal about demanding a max deal next summer, Boston might choose to go another direction and would likely receive valuable compensation in return.

Since Gordon Hayward joined the Celtics in one of the major free agent moves of this offseason, it could also be a do-or-die, go-for-broke type of season in Boston, especially since this might be Thomas’ last year with the club. Therefore, Boston will want to ensure that he will be as healthy as possible towards the end of the 82-game regular season and heading into the playoffs when it matters most.

As a result, Thomas might be held out of action until he is truly 100 percent back to health.