Jakob Poeltl appears to be nearing a return. The Toronto Raptors center was participating in post-practice shooting Wednesday afternoon and appeared to be moving well as he continues to work his way back from an ankle sprain he suffered earlier this month.

Toronto has yet to officially announce his injury status for Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but the 7-foot Austrian is likely to be back soon.

“He did halfcourt stuff today with the team, he started running and jumping,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said. “He was doing more today. He’s still not cleared for a full contact and with him we’re just going to go day-by-day at this point.”

Whenever he is back, Poeltl will slide back into the starting lineup but there’ll be a bit of a ramp-up period before he’s back to his normal playing time. His conditioning and rhythm may take a little more time to get back up to game speed, Rajaković acknowledged. Toronto certainly needs Poeltl back soon. The Raptors have been the NBA’s sixth-worst defense since losing Poeltl and Toronto’s rebounding percentage has been the very worst in the league over the last eight games.

Expect to see Jontay Porter stay in Toronto whenever Poeltl does return. Despite being on a two-way contract, the Raptors see Porter as a backup center who should be able to contribute moving forward. He offers more versatility than Poeltl and can give Toronto a slightly different look on both ends of the court. “I like his game.

I think he’s a young player with potential and definitely we want to give him a chance,” Rajaković said of Porter. “We’re learning a lot about the team, we’re building a new team over here, so we’re going to give him a really good look, so we know what he’s got to do.” Toronto will release an official injury report on Thursday for Friday’s game.