Marcus Smart participates in all of Saturday's practice, but his return is still unknown

In terms of Marcus Smart's recovery from an ankle injury, there's good news and not-so-encouraging news.

From Chris Forsberg at ESPN:

Celtics rookie guard Marcus Smart, sidelined the past three weeks with a left-ankle injury, went through all of Saturday's practice. Don't get too excited. "He did everything, but that doesn’t mean a lot," cautioned Celtics coach Brad Stevens, noting how the team went light Saturday while sandwiched between a pair of 1 p.m. tip-offs. Smart had said Friday that he was unlikely to play on Sunday.

There's still a chance that Smart will return to the court Sunday, but don't count on it. The team and Smart are both being cautious with this injury. Of course Smart wants to be out there, but if he can't do what he does best, making opposing guards question why they ever picked up a basketball in the first place, it's a good idea to take time and recover.

It does sound like Smart is pretty close to coming back so he should be considered day-to-day. The sooner Smart gets back on the court, the sooner the team can figure out how best to use him in their plethora of guards. These next couple of months leading up to the trade deadline should be pretty interesting for Smart and the Celtics. Will the team feel comfortable enough with Smart at the helm to deal Rajon Rondo? Will Smart play his way right out of Boston if another team decides that want what he can offer? (shudder the thought) Only time will tell.

Follow Eric
@ericblaisdell13