Thomas: 'I'm pretty much ready'

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Three months after surgery to repair a leak in his aortic valve, Washington Wizards center Etan Thomas said he intends to return this season.

Thomas' press conference came six days after he was cleared for noncontact drills and two days after the seven-year veteran paid the Wizards a surprise visit during Saturday's practice.

Thomas must wait for the Wizards' doctors to clear him before he can resume practicing with the team.

"This is something new for them, so they're being a little bit extra cautious, which is understandable, but I'm pretty much ready now," Thomas said. "They just gotta do all the tests they feel necessary, and then I'll be back with the team."

Said coach Eddie Jordan: "There's no real timetable. We just have to see how his endurance has to build up, and his legs have to get used to playing and keeping the pace of NBA game, and he'll have to fit in with the chemistry of how everything is going."

Thomas, 29, attended training camp with the Wizards in October ready to compete with Brendan Haywood for the starting center spot. But the team held him out of the first practice when his physical showed a heart irregularity.

Thomas, who averaged 6.1 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, says he learned in middle school he had a heart murmur and grew accustomed to playing with it. He assumed he would have surgery to correct the leaky valve when he was in his "50s or 60s."

"I felt fine," Thomas said of his condition before the surgery. "But before I had the surgery, my doctors showed me there was a difference in some of my numbers, and it was a good time to have the surgery then.

"If I had've waited longer, the more complicated the surgery would've been and the more risks there would've been for different parts of the surgery."

Thomas had surgery Oct. 11 at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and was released about eight days later. He returned to his home in Maryland to begin rehabilitation.