NEW ORLEANS — The wait is nearly over for Nuggets center JaVale McGee.
He will return to the lineup either Wednesday night at New Orleans or Thursday at Memphis, the final game of Nuggets’ current road trip.
McGee participated in Wednesday morning’s shootaround at the Smoothie King Center, which was held in part to get him on the court and running around, as well as to get some court time for Randy Foye and Danilo Gallinari, who have both struggled since returning from injuries.
McGee is not 100 percent.
Still, he said he’s “ready to go.”
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m ready to run and everything. It’s iffy sometimes. Sometimes I’m sore after (on-court work) or in between, so I’ve just got to see how I’m feeling, basically.”
Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said he’ll decide Wednesday afternoon whether McGee will play against the Pelicans. If McGee doesn’t play at New Orleans, he will Thursday at Memphis. Both games feature teams with strong frontcourts — Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson in New Orleans, and Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol in Memphis.
Sitting out has been an annoyance to McGee. He missed 77 games last season because of a stress fracture in his left tibia. This season he’s missed 26 total (23 straight, leading into Wednesday night’s game) due to a strain around the surgically repaired tibia.
“It’s very difficult,” McGee said. “Because I’ve never had a major injury before. The only injury I’ve had is this one. So it’s real frustrating.”
As far as what he can do on the court, McGee said: “I probably can’t jump as high off my left as I want to. My right is a lot stronger. You might see a lot of left-handed dunks.”
And he feels his conditioning will get a break by coming back to play on the road instead of Denver’s thin air.
“It’s getting better,” McGee said of his conditioning. “And we’re not at altitude so if I do happen to play (Wednesday) it wouldn’t be as bad as starting my first game in Denver.”
Asked if he’d be at 100 percent at any point this season, McGee said: “I hope so. I don’t know.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
