Anthony Davis' ankle injury is healed enough that he will return ahead of schedule, playing in the New Orleans Pelicans' final preseason game against the Orlando Magic Thursday night.
Sources had told ESPN that Davis was aiming for opening night on Oct. 26.
"I was trying to find a way to beat the system and come back early, to be back on the floor," Davis said, according to NBA.com. "I knew in my head that I wanted to come back before the season opener. I think we did a great job of putting in extra work of getting my ankle back and being ready to play."
Davis went through Wednesday's practice without any issues, sources told ESPN, and afterward he was upgraded from "out" to "probable" for Thursday's game.
The three-time All-Star suffered a sprained right ankle during the Pelicans' recent preseason trip to China.
Davis has averaged 20.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots through his first four NBA seasons.
"It's good, because we're going to play this game [like a real game]," Davis said, according to NBA.com. "Nobody has restrictions on them as far as minutes. It's going to help us to see what we need to work on for the next couple days, before we tip off for real. We have all of our guys here who are able to play. We get a good chance to look at us against a great team, who has a good post presence and can shoot the ball. This is going to be a good test for us."
Information from ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein was used in this report.
