Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu was able to fully participate in a team practice today and may even return to the floor tomorrow for the first time this season against the Trail Blazers, per head coach Steve Clifford (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Athletic).
Aminu been unavailable since tearing his right meniscus on November 29, 2019 in a 90-83 loss to the Raptors. The 30-year-old is on the second season of a three-year, $29MM contract he inked with the Magic in the summer of 2019.
The versatile 6’8″ forward has appeared in just 18 games for Orlando during his tenure with the club. Aminu holds career averages of 7.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.2, and 1.0 SPG.
An Aminu return would be a huge on-court boon for the Magic. Orlando is dealing with a rash of injuries, including to starting forwards Jonathan Isaac (out for the season with a torn left ACL) and Aaron Gordon. (out for the next 3-5 weeks with a left ankle sprain).
Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel tweets that Magic point guard Michael Carter-Williams participated in practice as well, though injured shooting guard Evan Fournier did not partake. A sprained left foot has rendered Carter-Williams unavailable since January 4. Fournier has been struggling with back spasms intermittently throughout the 2020/21 season.