It was recently announced that Wizards‘ wing Bilal Coulibaly underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb that he suffered during his time with the French national team competing at EuroBasket. Grant Afseth of RG has now provided an update on the timeline of Coulibaly’s recovery process.
According to Afseth, the 21-year-old will likely miss six to eight weeks, a projection that would have him miss at least the first week of the season, which kicks off on October 21. Afseth notes that even if Coulibaly were to return on the earlier side of the timeline, he would still have to undergo a full return-to-competition ramp-up.
“Usually, you’re not touching a basketball, unless it’s just to do off-hand work, until that six-week mark,” said a source. “Then he’d have to do contact work before playing.”
Coulibaly averaged 12.3 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals for the Wizards last season before missing the final 23 games of the season with a hamstring injury. He saw his three-point shooting numbers drop from 34.6% as a rookie to 28.1% as a sophomore while shouldering a larger offensive workload.
Afseth notes that once Coulibaly returns, he’s expected to resume his place as a key member of the Wizards’ rebuild. A strong defender and open-court player, he projects to fit well alongside 2025 first-round pick Tre Johnson on the wing.
Afseth notes that Coulibaly’s teammate on both the French national team and Wizards, Alex Sarr, was also hurt in competition, suffering a calf injury that caused him to pull out of the tournament.