Ian Mahinmi returns to practice, hopes to play before December

The Wizards received some good news earlier Saturday when center Ian Mahinmi participated in shootaround and drills for the first time since October, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.

Mahinmi suffered a medial meniscus tear in his left knee and had surgery on October 14 and has not appeared in a regular season game. In Buckner’s column, Mahinmi said he is not cleared for full contact practices yet, but that he hopes to be back in games before December.

The Wizards are one of the NBA’s worst teams with a 3-8 record. Their bench still has the worst team rating differential (-20.3 points per 100 possessions) according to HoopStats.com. Mahinmi won’t fix every problem when he returns, but he will give the bench a stronger presence right away and take some of the workload off of Marcin Gortat, who is averaging 34.5 minutes a game so far this season.