When could Devan Cambridge return to action for Texas Tech basketball?

Devan Cambridge's time with the Texas Tech basketball team has been anything but ordinary.

The 6-foot-8 forward started each of the Red Raiders' first eight games of the 2023-24 season, utilizing his athleticism and speed to be a key component for a small-ball look. Then, in a Dec. 6 non-conference home game against Omaha, Cambridge went down with what wound up as a season-ending knee injury, the first significant injury of his athletic career.

Cambridge told the Avalanche-Journal in February he fully intended to return to the Red Raiders for what will be his sixth year of college basketball — he played three years at Auburn and one at Arizona State before transferring to Texas Tech last offseason.

Those plans seemed to change when Cambridge reportedly told On3 on April 2 he was heading to the transfer portal. It didn't take long, though, for Cambridge to change his mind. Never officially entering the portal, Cambridge is set to close his collegiate career in a Red Raider uniform.

The question is when Cambridge will be able to play again.

"He's been playing around in the gym and shooting," Grant McCasland said, "and he's not supposed to be doing too much, but he's moving well, I think, in a straight line and a lot of things that you want to see as far as strength is right on time in order to be able to play this next season."

While Cambridge was a starter when healthy last season, the Red Raiders have done well to build a team to where Cambridge can be a spark off the bench at some point. Texas Tech returns starters Darrion Williams and Kerwin Walton — who stepped into Cambridge's spot in the starting lineup — as well as Chance McMillian, all who played big minutes a season ago.

McCasland and his staff have also brought in three transfers in guards Elijah Hawkins and Kevin Overton and center Federiko Federiko.

The hope, McCasland said, is to round out the rest of the roster through the remainder of the summer and get Cambridge back to full strength some time before the start of Big 12 play.

"You never know exactly when that's going to happen," McCasland said of Cambridge's target date, "but I would anticipate it being in the first semester and then non-conference play we'll get him out there. He looks excited. He looks refreshed and he looks great."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: When could Devan Cambridge return to action for Texas Tech basketball?