After undergoing knee surgery early in the calendar year, Tyreke Evans will end a nearly 11-month hiatus from playing Thursday night, when New Orleans (8-18) hosts Indiana (13-13) at the Smoothie King Center. Evans’ playing-time workload is to be determined, but at least for now, he will not play both games of back-to-backs, meaning he’ll sit Friday’s game at Houston.
Evans compared the way his return to play will be handled to that of Jrue Holiday last season; Holiday was brought off the bench initially and gradually saw an increase in minutes before all minute restrictions were lifted near the midpoint of 2015-16.