After undergoing surgery in July to remove bone spurs from his right ankle, New Orleans Hornets Austin Rivers said he’s pain-free and eager to begin training camp on Tuesday.
Rivers worked out at the Alario Center earlier this week and showed no limitations while he took jump shots and worked on his ballhandling.
Austin, whom the Hornets selected as the 10th overall pick in the first round after they selected Anthony Davis with the No. 1 overall pick, initially injured his ankle during summer league play in Las Vegas during July. The injury forced him to miss three of the Hornets' five games.
``It is so nice that I’m finally playing with no pain,’’ Rivers said. ``I played a game and a half in summer league and I was in an extreme amount of pain.
The only reason I was playing because I was so excited to be out there and it was the first time I put on a NBA uniform. But I shouldn’t had played.’’