John Wall is set to take another step towards inching back to the Washington Wizards. Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said there is a “good chance” Wall will join his teammates in a 5-on-5 practice on Saturday, per Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.
Scott Brooks said "there's a good chance" that John Wall practices tomorrow.
"He's ready to take it to another level."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) March 23, 2018
Wall has missed the past 24 games after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He initially suffered the injury in a Nov. 7 game against the Dallas Mavericks. He received platelet rich plasma injections and missed several weeks before returning to the team in mid-December. However, Wall experienced swelling in the knee in January and after a second opinion underwent surgery to correct the matter.
The Wizards are 15-9 in Wall’s latest stint out of action. They jumped out to an impressive 9-2 start without their five-time All-Star but are 6-7 in the last 13 games. Currently, Washington is sixth in the tight Eastern Conference standings. They are just two games back of Cleveland for the third seed. And while they have an 8 1/2-game cushion on the ninth-place team in the standings, the Wizards would like to be situated in one of the top four spots to ensure home-court advantage in the first round.
With 11 games remaining before the postseason, the concern is how much time Wall would need of game action during the regular season before being somewhat prepared for the playoffs?
For Brooks, he wants Wall to be able to get in “a handful of practices” before he is activated for a game.
