ORLANDO - Rookie Los Angeles Lakers, Lonzo Ball, continues to make progress in his left ankle sprain, but his return remains uncertain.
The second overall draft pick will miss his eighth consecutive game when the Lakers play the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
"He will play when he is approved by the training staff," said coach Luke Walton, as Ball shot threes at the end of Tuesday's practice. "If it's on this trip, it's on this trip. If not, I expect him back at home."
"He could play this week," added Walton, who made it clear that the Lakers will play it safe and not rush Ball's return. "He could play this week. Or the next week. He could play in one of these weeks."
After the game against Orlando, the Lakers will play the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, before ending their five-game road trip against the Oklahoma City on Sunday. The rookie may miss the whole trip.
Ball, who was selected to play for the United States in the Mtn Dew Kickstart Rising Stars game on February 16 during the All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, shot after Tuesday's practice.
Ball has started limited movement with trainers, but the rookie will have to practice and see how his knee responds the next day after returning.
"He hasn't ramped it up, but yesterday he did some work and it felt good and today it didn't get worse from yesterday," Walton said. "(Ball did some lateral movement with trainers but) nothing to the extent of what it would take to play basketball -moving laterally and changing direction at full speed, hitting someone, those types of exercises haven't been done. He's slowly doing it in a controlled environment."