PHOENIX -- Before the Hornets faced the Suns on Sunday, their head coach Jeff Bower said that he expects to see Chris Paul back in the lineup before the end of the season. Judging by the way Paul looked while getting in some pregame work, it's easy to see why.After missing his team's last 21 games since having knee surgery on February 4th, Paul has been cleared to practice, and did so about 90 minutes before tip-off. According to a report in The Times Picayune, he may return to the court sometime in the next week to 10 days.
"He's made progress in his rehab and is now at the stage where he's going back out on the court for court work, and is in the transition phase of getting back to running on the floor," Bower said. "So as he moves through those stages, the next step would be a return to action. But he has to go from half-speed, to three-quarter speed, to full speed before he's cleared."
Paul was by no means going full speed during this workout, and wasn't running up and down the court, or even going hard to the basket. But for someone coming off of knee surgery, he seemed extremely comfortable out there. Paul was playing without any kind of brace on his healing knee, while doing some light ball handling and getting some shots up over a member of the team's staff.
Video of Paul in action can be seen in the following clip.




