LAS VEGAS — Isaiah Livers still doesn’t know how, for two years, he played through a major hip injury that caused extreme pain to shoot down the side of his right leg.
Then, on second thought …
“As a rookie, a guy that’s trying to prove himself, it was one of those, I may feel something, but I got to get out there and play tonight,” he admitted. “I take 100% of the blame, honestly, because you know your body better than anyone else can tell you.”
Livers had a right hip reshaping procedure in October 2024 that sidelined him for the entire 2024-25 season. He’s worked his way back through strenuous rehab and expects to be ready for the Phoenix Suns training camp going into the 2025-26 season.
“I’m ready to go now,” Livers said Sunday, July 13, while attending NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. “If they want to play 5-on-5 now in two hours, I’ll be there. I feel really good.”
Livers signed a two-way deal this month with the Suns. The 6-6 forward began his NBA career with the Detroit Pistons as the 42nd overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Michigan.
“Isaiah brings a shooting piece, size piece we’re looking (for) on this roster,” Suns first-year head coach Jordan Ott said July 8.
Livers averaged 6.2 points, shooting 35.7% from 3, in three NBA seasons, all with the Pistons.
“He has been injured, but now he’s back,” Ott continued. “He’s fully healthy. He’s been here. Excited to see him more this summer, into training camp and into the season.”
Livers checked out Phoenix’s second summer league game at Cox Pavilion on the campus of University of Nevada Las Vegas. He sat courtside with Suns general manager Brian Gregory, CEO Josh Bartelstein, assistant coaches Jesse Mermuys and Brian Randle, point guard Collin Gillespie and center Mark Williams.
As the second half of Phoenix’s July 13 loss to the Atlanta Hawks was a minute or so away from starting, Livers was asked why Phoenix was the place for him to make his return to the league.
He simply turned to the Suns’ collective when explaining his decision.
“Shoot, the guys here, look at the guys here,” Livers said. “The guys in the front office. The guys on the team.”
Suns two-way signee Isaiah Livers with GM Brian Gregory.
Collin Gillespie also at game. #Suns#NBA2KSummerLeaguepic.twitter.com/W0iusoJWLF
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) July 13, 2025
Like Livers, Bartelstein also played college ball at Michigan.
“I want to be around people who want to win, who want to compete every day and looking to do something here,” Livers said. “I want to win. I see the Suns as an opportunity to come in and help them win. Whatever that looks like for them, whatever Coach Ott wants me to do, I’m going to do it.”
From Kalamazoo, Livers, 26, said he’s looking to “space the floor” for the Suns. He is ninth all-time at Michigan in 3-point shooting percentage at 41.2%.
“Be a reliable guy to knock down shots and either, guard the best player,” Livers said. “I know they got some defenders so either guard the best player when I come in, guard the second guy. You know me, I just want to compete. That last year, I’m telling you, it made me just, I missed basketball a lot. So I’m hungry for it.”
Livers played his last NBA game Jan. 12, 2024, against the Houston Rockets. Two days later, the Pistons traded him to the Washington Wizards, but Livers never played a game for them.
“I wasn’t athletic,” he said. “People were beating me off (the dribble), especially after my second year. I had a good first year guarding people, but that second and third year, something fell off and I didn’t know what it was. I’m just glad we figured it out and I can come out with a whole new mindset.”
The injury was even more serious than Livers thought.
“At the point we found it, it was like .6 millimeters this close to my bone,” Livers said. “By the summer, it was bone on bone. They said I was probably playing on it for about a year, straight bone on bone. It just kept getting worse and worse. I tried to go to L.A. last summer and do conservative rehab. We found out we got to do this special surgery. I was very upset.”
Livers went through various stages of rehabbing the injury. He first regained movement and strength in his hip with a series of exercises that included movements inside a pool.
“That whole year, I learned a lot about myself,” Livers said. “Obviously, off the court, you have time to think. I had a lot of time to reflect on what I wanted to look like when I get back. I just grinded.”
Three months later, Livers was able to shoot as he started working with Olin Simplis, a professional shooting coach known as “The Guard Whisperer” in California.
Three-point shot. Shots off movement. “Two-foot bounce,” as Livers put it.
“He was very detailed in my rehab,” Livers said about Simplis, who has worked with 2024-25 NBA MVP and 2025 finals MVP, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Simplis has also trained Cleveland Cavaliers All-NBA big Evan Mobley, four-time NBA champion, Dallas Mavericks forward Klay Thompson, 2024-25 NBA rookie of the year, San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle and Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe, the third overall pick in the 2025 draft.
“I didn’t start too crazy, started real slow,” Livers continued. “Form shots and then it started gradually to just feel better.”
Simplis put Livers through a series of strengthening exercises and a strenuous uphill run on sand barefoot that included weaving around cones set up all the way to the top.
Livers is now back, feeling as if he never even underwent surgery.
“I kind of feel like a whole new player to be honest,” Livers said.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns forward Isaiah Livers set for training camp injury rehab