Nov 1, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards small forward Otto Porter Jr. is introduced prior to the Wizards

Rejoice!

There’s been lots of speculation over the past few weeks about when Otto Porter, who was supposedly making progress, would return to the Wizards lineup. Porter suffered a hip injury several months ago and it appears as if he finally practiced with the Wizards for the first time since getting drafted third overall out of Georgetown in June.

Otto Porter Jr. practiced for the first time today. So did Chris Singleton did, too. And so did Trevor Ariza. Is everybody happy? #wizards — Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) November 25, 2013

Porter will certainly need time to get conditioned before playing major minutes, but this is great news considering how bad Washington’s bench has looked right out of the gate. Trevor Ariza is also expected to play sooner rather than later, which gives the Wizards some much needed depth.

The Wizards have been plagued with injuries right from the get-go with Emeka Okafor being sidelined indefinitely, but it seems like we’re finally going to see a healthy team after all. Washington has won 3 of their last 4 games after starting out the season on a rather bad note. They’re currently tied for the 8th spot in the conference with the Detroit Pistons.

Overall, this is great news for the Wizards. The fan base became inevitably frustrated when no timetable was announced for Porter’s return, but now that he’s finally practiced with the team, I’d expect him to make his debut in the very near future.

Otto Porter is back and it couldn’t have come at a better time.