Brandon Roy Wants To Play In 2012/13

5:30pm: The Oregonian's John Canzano has a new column advising Blazers fans to prepare for Roy's return.

3:26pm: The progress of Roy's recovery will be on display this weekend when he plays in the Jamal Crawford Summer Pro-Am with Nate Robinson, Spencer Hawes, Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas, among others, Kennedy reports (Twitter links). 

11:51pm: NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper has a quote from University of Washington guard Tony Wroten, supporting the claim that Roy is in excellent physical condition.

10:43am: Former Blazers shooting guard Brandon Roy is preparing to return to the NBA next season, according to comments he made on the Twitter account of close friend Will Conroy, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports. Roy has been contemplating a comeback for several months, after repeated knee injuries prompted him to retire before the season.

The former sixth overall pick tweeted about his fondness for Portland, but acknowledged that he won't be able to re-sign anytime soon with the Blazers, who used their amnesty clause to wipe his contract from their books after he retired. Teams can't re-sign a player upon whom they invoke amnesty until the player's original contract would have expired. Roy tweeted that he can't re-sign with the Blazers until 2014/15, which was an early termination option year on the contract. He may not actually be able to sign with them until 2015/16, but since Roy seems intent on coming back next year, that's likely a moot point. 

Sources tell Kennedy that Roy's training is going well and that he's "feeling great." Roy says he's "training daily" and says his "health is good" (Twitter links). He reportedly underwent medical procedures on his knees earlier this month. When Roy retired, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian wrote that a doctor told Roy, “You might end up not walking” if he returned to basketball.

Sportando's Emiliano Carchia speculates via Twitter that Roy could draw interest from the Pacers or Knicks. That's probably premature at this point, at least until Roy is examined by team doctors and works out in front of NBA front office types who can gauge whether the three-time All-Star is anywhere close to his old form.

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