Andre Drummond will return, start vs. Raptors

At roughly 11:34pm ET, I received a notification on my phone from the Detroit Pistons that Andre Drummond will be making his return to the Pistons' lineup Friday night vs. the Toronto Raptors. Even better, he will be making his first career start.

Just in case the Pistons' app was playing mind games, the team's official twitter and Keith Langlois have confirmed the news. And this is what was expected all along, of course.

Drummond missed 22 straight games due to a broken back - a stress fracture to his fifth lumbar vertebra, to be exact. The rookie big man, who is the second-most productive player per minute by The NBA Geek standards, returned to full basketball activities roughly two weeks ago and reportedly has been playing above the rim like he was before the injury. While his recovery took longer than the predicted 4-6 weeks when first diagnosed, the Pistons could not be too careful with their rising star. Hashtag InArnieWeTrust.

That said, FINALLY. Thank goodness for this Good Friday.