Charlotte Hornets could welcome back two players, get reinforcements off injured list

A little reinforcement may be on the way for the Charlotte Hornets.

In what seems like a rarity considering the rash of injuries the team has dealt with over the first month-plus, Miles Bridges is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against Milwaukee at Spectrum Center. It’s significant and unexpected given the team originally said Bridges’ status wouldn’t be updated for at least another seven days following a two-week rehabilitation and re-evaluation period.

The sixth-year forward bruised a bone in his right knee after getting banged up in the closing seconds of Charlotte’s last-second victory over Detroit on Nov. 6. But the Hornets’ third-leading scorer slowly increased activity over the past week and participated in practice on Friday leading into their matchup with the Bucks.

Bridges’ improving health isn’t the only dose of good news for the Hornets.

Tre Mann isn’t listed on the report at all after he couldn’t go in Orlando on Tuesday, dealing with lower back soreness. It was a bit unclear how long he’d be sidelined given just how much he was hurting after Sunday’s loss in Philadelphia.

That pain caused Mann to sit out the Hornets’ NBA Cup loss to the Magic, which had to be a tough thing since he’s from Gainesville and played at Florida.

“I actually thought in the Philly game, he started to feel a little bit of soreness and the competitor he is, he wanted to do it individually and also for the team,” coach Charles Lee said. “I thought he didn’t have his full burst, his full array of talents I guess you could say, on both ends of the floor.

“He tried to give it a go. I think he was still in a limited space physically and so it was unfortunate not to have him. But I know these next couple of days, it will be nice for him to get home, get some treatment and continue to kind of strengthen his back.”

Apparently, the home cooking, some rest and a little treatment did the trick.