Following surgery on Nov. 30, the outlook for his return has picked up considerably.

West said the wrist is healing up so well, there won’t be any need for it to be placed in a hard cast.

“Just stimulate it with treatments, and I’ll be back to working out within the next two weeks,” said West, who added that he’ll have it in a soft cast when he resumes working out.

While it certainly remains a longshot, it’s not totally out of the question that the 6-foot-3 guard could return the court before the end of this month.

As A. Sherrod Blakely tweets, that quick a return is unlikely.

“D.West returning by the end of this month would be great, obviously,” Blakely tweeted. “But IMO, his return to the [Celtics] by late-January is more realistic.”

Still, late-January sure as hell beats out “hopefully sometime before the playoffs.” When Doc Rivers first discussed the injury, he feared West would miss the entire regular season.