Zaza

Pachulia

He practiced with the team Saturday, and if he suffers no setbacks before game time, he is expected to play. He hurt his foot on Nov. 6 vs. Cleveland and hasn’t played since. He will serve as Dan Gadzuric’s back up at center.

Shorthanded at the big positions with Pachulia and Toni Kukoc out, the Bucks will continue to give Desmond Mason some heavy clock as part of their small lineup.

Pachulia will still battle Gadzuric for minutes at center, but his strong play lately apparently hasn’t been enough to knock Gadzuric out of his job.

Coach Doc Rivers is uncertain when Pachulia will return to practice.

Pachulia sprained his ankle on the first day of training camp and has yet to play this preseason.

The 19-year-old probably will receive only mop-up minutes the rest of the season, considering the Magic are starting Steven Hunter and veteran Sean Rooks is relieving Hunter.

Pachulia, 20, has played in 40 games, and he recently has become the first big man off the bench. Unless he shines, he will probably return to the bench when Andrew DeClerq is back from arthroscopic knee surgery.

The Bucks will have six more days to match it, or Pachulia is Atlanta’s new starting center. The deal is believed to be for four years and $4 million.

He’ll have some serious sleeper potential, as he’s the only real option the Hawks have at center right now, and he came for much less cash than Eddy Curry would have. He should be a tier-three or four center, worth selecting in the mid to later rounds of most fantasy drafts and could be this year’s version of Primoz Brezec. He’s guaranteed decent board and block numbers this year as Atlanta’s starting center.

That’s a wrap on Pachulia’s playing days, as the 35-year-old center transitions to the front-office side of the basketball equation. He spent the bulk of his NBA career with the Hawks but played two years with Golden State from 2016-18, and obviously made a great impression on the franchise.