Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic has been rehabbing since he suffered a gruesome leg injury on March 25 of last year and he will make his return nearly one year to the day of his initial injury. The Klutch Sports center told Yahoo’s Chris Haynes that he plans to make his return to the court next Sunday, March 15, against the Houston Rockets.
While a source with knowledge of the situation told LeBronWire earlier in the winter that the plan was to bring Nurkic back after the All-Star break, the center also dealt with a calf strain in the subsequent days after returning to practice, thus leading to a “setback,” according to Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. Nurkic will be in the Blazers lineup next weekend as Portland looks to make the playoffs, where they trail the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies by 3 and a half games and the honor to play LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.
Nurk told Haynes that he’s ready to go.
“I worked my ass off to be in position to get back on the court and help my team, but game speed is going to be different,” Nurkic told Yahoo Sports. “I’m not going to be playing 40 minutes. But for me, mentally, I need to get these reps in before I can play [extended minutes]. Physically, I’m good. I had a calf strain recently, which is normal for the injury I had. I’ve been pleased with where my rehab is going. I never doubted I’d be back, but I had to make sure I was 100 percent. I can’t wait for [March 15].”
The Portland has mostly had Hassan Whiteside as their lone healthy big man all season, so the addition of Nurkic could help Portland as they look to make a playoff push with 19 games left.