After Dwyane Wade underwent knee surgery on July 9th, shortly following the Miami Heat’s NBA championship win, the organization and Wade himself weren’t sure how much time he would miss as he entered recovery. Head coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t want to push Wade, sitting him out of the preseason opener, but Wade’s recovery has progressed enough to have allowed him to play in the Heat’s last two preseason games.

“I feel ahead of schedule,” Wade told ESPN. “If I continue to keep progressing, I’m going to try to play as much as possible but try to be smart as well. I want to play Thursday, get back out there and continue to get my legs under me…so I can be ready for opening night.”

The team didn’t expect him to appear in the previous two exhibition games against the Clippers, but with the knee feeling good, Wade played more than 23 minutes in last Wednesday’s win and eight more minutes in Sunday’s loss. Although initially a bit nervous about Wade’s quick return, Spoelstra is encouraged by what he is seeing out of his star guard.

“He’s ahead of schedule, and we want to keep him that way,”Spoelstra said. “We’re not trying to rush this or fast-track it. We want it to go at a healthy rate. Last week was very positive. He was able to go every single day and then play in both games. It was the most productive week he’s had. Today, he didn’t miss a turn in practice. He’s getting his timing back. Those are good signs.”

Wade was solid defensively in the two games against LA, nabbing four steals and blocking two shots during just over 30 minutes of combined play. Although he struggled shooting, hitting just five of 16 from the field, his teammates also enjoyed seeing him back on the floor.

“I was good to see him get out there and play like he did, getting dunks, driving baseline and making spin moves, his patent moves,” said LeBron James. “It’s good to see that already with him coming off knee surgery.”

Spoelstra is still listing Wade as “day to day” and instead of scheduling out time for Wade to play, is playing things by ear or rather, by feel.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Spoelstra. “Each day we’ll evaluate it. If his knee feels differently tomorrow, we’ll back off it. He’s got plenty of time.”

Wade’s goal is to be 100% for the season opener on Oct. 30, so he still has two weeks to get there.

“…yeah I’m ahead of schedule. So with two weeks left. I need those two weeks to get my legs under me,” Wade said.