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Khris Middleton will make his season debut Friday against the Boston Celtics as the Milwaukee Bucks forward returns from offseason surgery on his ankles, sources told ESPN’s Bobby Marks on Thursday.

Middleton is listed as probable to play Friday on the NBA injury report.

He took part in a 5-on-5 practice session Wednesday before the Bucks’ 119-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks snapped a seven-game winning streak.

Bucks coach Doc Rivers had said Wednesday that Middleton was close to playing and that he could understand Middleton feeling frustrated as he missed the first 21 games of the season.

“Anybody who wants to play, and Khris is one of those [guys], they’re frustrated,” Rivers said. “That’s mentally challenging. You see your team playing, and although we’re playing well right now, I imagine when we were really struggling and he wasn’t playing, that had to be really hard for him. You want to help your team, and he knows he can.”

Sources had told ESPN’s Shams Charania last month that Middleton was medically cleared but that he was still working toward feeling physically ready to play.

Middleton underwent arthroscopic surgeries on both ankles during the offseason stemming from injuries suffered during the 2023-24 campaign.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

The San Antonio Spurs were without star Victor Wembanyama for Thursday night’s 139-124 home loss to the Chicago Bulls due to bilateral low back soreness.

Wembanyama, 20, appeared to have been injured with 2:23 remaining in Tuesday’s 104-93 loss at Phoenix, on a play that saw him get a whistle for a charge after a collision with Bradley Beal. He remained in the game until subbing out with 6 seconds left.

Walking off the court after the loss, Wembanyama appeared to be in discomfort.

But interim coach Mitch Johnson said he was not certain of the extent of Wembanyama’s injury.

San Antonio’s leading scorer, Wembanyama is averaging 23.5 points with 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and a league-high 3.4 blocks and was named the Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month on Tuesday.

Wembanyama sat out three games in November because of a bruised right knee.

Also Thursday, backup point guard Tre Jones missed his second game after sustaining a sprained left shoulder Sunday in a win at Sacramento.

Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka was fined $50,000 by the NBA for his actions during Tuesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings in an NBA Cup game.

Udoka was docked for confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected, and public criticism of the officiating.

Udoka wasn’t alone, as Rockets forward Tari Eason was fined $35,000 by the NBA for tossing a towel and using inappropriate language in the direction of a fan after the game. Also, Alperen Sengun was fined $15,000 by the league after directing inappropriate language toward a game official.

Udoka and Sengun were both assessed technical fouls and ejected with 1:52 remaining in Tuesday’s game.

“Missed calls, blatant missed calls right in front of you,” Udoka said of referee John Goble after the game. “You’re calling ticky-tack moving screens, little s— like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you. That was it. Thought [Sengun] got fouled a few times on that drive and on the layup and they don’t want to call it. So I told him to get some f—ing glasses and open your eyes.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the plan is to have Stephen Curry back in the lineup on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kerr also said he believes it is “possible” that Draymond Green could return against the Wolves.

Curry and Green did not play on Thursday night against the Houston Rockets, the first of a home back-to-back set for the Warriors. Golden State plays Minnesota again at home on Sunday to cap a stretch of three games in four nights.

“Steph’s knee stuff the last couple of weeks … he’s in pain,” Kerr said before facing the Rockets. “We’re not playing him. We can’t play him through this stretch every game and expect him to get through. I thought he looked really good in Denver. To me he looked more active, more agile, but we have to help him get through the woods on this one.

“And same thing with Draymond, otherwise you’re chasing your tail and then guys end up missing weeks at a time. So it’s nothing more than training staff helping them get through the woods, and hopefully over the long haul that means they end up playing more games than they otherwise would’ve.”

Curry missed his second game in the past four Warriors games with bilateral knee injury management. Curry did not play because of the pain in both of his knees on Nov. 27 in a home loss to Oklahoma City. He finished with 24 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds in 34 minutes in a loss at Denver on Tuesday.

Curry admitted that the injury could become a “nagging” issue but said that he and the team were trying to stay ahead of it. He said he wasn’t sure if he would have to miss future games as part of maintenance of the issue. But he also insisted that he was not concerned about the injury.

Green missed his second straight game with tightness in his left calf. He underwent an MRI on Wednesday, and the Warriors said the results came back clean. His status for Friday’s game against the Wolves will be determined.

“I think it’s possible he’ll play,” Kerr said.

The New Orleans Pelicans said Wednesday that Zion Williamson will miss at least two more weeks as he continues to rehab a left hamstring injury.

Williamson has been out since Nov. 6 because of the injury and overall has been limited to just six games for New Orleans this season, averaging 22.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

Since the Pelicans selected Williamson first overall out of Duke in the 2019 draft, the 6-foot-6, 284-pound power forward has missed 211 out of a possible 401 regular-season games.

Also Wednesday, the Pelicans said Brandon Ingram (right plantaris tendinitis) and Herb Jones (right shoulder strain) were full participants in practice Wednesday and are questionable to face the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Jose Alvarado will be reevaluated in two weeks as he continues to rehab a left hamstring strain.

And Jordan Hawkins has what the team called a lumbar spine annular fissure and will be reevaluated in about one week.