Orlando Sentinel Report: Victor Oladipo to play, C.J. Watson nearing practice

Victor Oladipo appears set to play Tuesday after banging knees with Jamal Crawford on Saturday. C.J. Watson also appears close to a return to the court.

The Orlando Magic have had a mixed bag of injury news as they complete the final two stages of their five-game, eight-day road trip to the West Coast.

Victor Oladipo will likely play Tuesday, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports, after he banged knees with Jamal Crawford late in Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Oladipo told the Orlando Sentinel it hit him in a weird spot, but he was good to return to the game about three minutes later and was on the court at the end of the game.

Oladipo has averaged 18.5 points per game and shot 48.2 percent effective field goal percentage in the past six games since moving to a reserve Sixth Man role. He has been a catalyst for the Magic’s win streak — five of the last six after Saturday’s loss — and so the Magic will need him ready.

The good news too is C.J. Watson appears to be getting closer to a return to the court.

Watson has not played since Nov. 9 against Indiana. He suffered a calf injury in practice and has not been able to play since. He has not been able to practice even with the team saying he has gone through all the rehab and treatment and the pain has not subsided.

It appears though some steps have been made.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports Watson returned to the non-contact portion of practice Monday. It is not a sign Watson will return before the end of the road trip — or even before Friday’s game against Cleveland when the team returns home. It is a sign he is getting closer.

Scott Skiles noted after Nikola Vucevic‘s brief absence and Victor Oladipo’s brief absence that if either had missed extended time, he would want to see them participate in a full-contact practice before playing them any significant minutes.

He reiterated that Monday:

"He’s been out so long, I don’t know how we could put him out there if he didn’t have a contact practice. But I don’t know. We’ll see what [athletic trainer] Keon [Weise] says and see what C.J. says. Even if it isn’t a contact practice — contact two-on-two or something — you’ve got to get in some sort of contact, I think."

The door is not completely closed for Watson to make a surprise appearance in the next three games. The Magic are not scheduled to practice again until potentially Saturday or Sunday (the team travels to Brooklyn on Sunday) although the team will shootaround before Friday’s game.

There should be a few opportunities for Watson to show he is ready in full-contact practice sessions in the coming days. He could be back on the floor very soon. That is good news for the Magic as they need some stabilization at backup point guard despite how well Shabazz Napier has played in stretches.

Watson is averaging 4.8 points and 3.1 assists per game in 19.5 minutes per game in eight appearances early on this season.

The final injury note entering Tuesday’s game, Aaron Gordon sprained his ankle and is questionable for the game against the Nuggets.

It is unclear whether he will play against the Nuggets at this point. His absence though would open the door for Mario Hezonja to get some minutes. But it would certainly hurt the Magic defensively in many ways as Gordon has been called on to close games on opponents’ best offensive players on several occasions. His athleticism has helped boost the Magic throughout this win streak.

UPDATE: John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com reports Gordon is not likely to play Tuesday.

Next: What we learned this week

The Magic wrap up their five-game West Coast trip against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday and the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. They return home Friday to play the Cleveland Cavaliers.