Blazers Big Man Jusuf Nurkic Set to Make Long-Awaited Season Debut March 15

The Portland Trail Blazers are currently the No. 9 seed out West, and they need to make up some serious ground to catch the Memphis Grizzlies and break into the playoff picture.

The return of bruising Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkic could help them in that regard. And after suffering a nightmarish leg injury a year ago, Nurkic announced that he will make his season debut March 15 against the Houston Rockets.

Welcom back, Nurk!

The 16th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets, Nurkic he quickly fell out of favor in Denver as Nikola Jokic emerged. He started to become a double-double machine upon his trade to Portland, however, where he has averaged 15.0 points and 9.7 boards per game to date.

Nurkic will likely start off as a backup this season, as the presence of Hassan Whiteside and his contributions of 14.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game could make it tough for Nurkic to get a ton of regular minutes.

Nurkic will likely have to take a back seat to Whiteside once he returns from injury, but he could be an extremely imposing presence for teams that lack size on the interior (looking at you, Houston) late in the season. His return could be enough to help Portland grab that No. 8 seed.