It took a couple days after Serge Ibaka’s fight with Cleveland’s Marquese Chris for Ibaka to actually pull up Toronto’s schedule and see when he'd return from his three-game suspension. He was too frustrated at first.
On Wednesday before shootaround at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Ibaka stood on a court he had called home for the first seven seasons of his NBA career and recalled his thought process:
“I’m coming back,” Ibaka said. “Actually, I’m coming back exactly when Nick (Collison) is retiring his jersey. So, I said, ‘That’s perfect.’”
Wednesday evening, Nick Collison will become the first Thunder player to have his number retired by the team.