Khris Middleton has been medically cleared to play for Beer "for a period of time" per Shams, ESPN. Middleton is "ramping up". He will play when he feels "his best self." The org. is on board with this subjective test, "but his absence has lasted much longer than people around the organization anticipated."
Beer's Big Three of Giannis, Middleton and Damian Lillard have played only seven games together under Doc Rivers. Giannis is 29, not old for a basketball player, right in his prime, Middleton is 33, Dame is 34. Khris had double ankle surgery off-season. He is not too old that he shouldn't have tried playing by now and he hasn't even participated in five-on-five scrimmages yet, only three-on-threes, which he's been doing "consistently...over the past several weeks."
The subjective test puts player and org in a tough spot. What is the org. supposed to do? The player has been medically cleared. On the other hand this player is essential to on-court success. For the player to make the call alone makes him the bad guy when, as here, he's solely responsible for not playing. Back on the org.: How can anybody else know how a player really feels? You want to piss off one of your Big Three? Back on the player: There's a difference between being injured and feeling discomfort, even pain, or feeling you're not ready because you cannot do 100% of the things you did pre-injury. Middleton is 33 years old, he doesn't have too, too many years left. You are under contract, you're extremely important to the team, you have to be available to play. A 90% Middleton is better than no Middleton.
I don't know how and why this subjective test became the standard. It leads to the above back-and-forth and creates ill will. It is exactly what happened with Justise Winslow and 601 Biscayne. The latter finally gave up on the former and traded him. He's now playing in the G League at age 28. He's done.