Mavericks' Rondo will play Thursday against Oklahoma City

Rajon Rondo will be back in the starting lineup Thursday night when the Dallas Mavericks travel to Oklahoma City to play the Thunder in a nationally televised game.

The only question is whether he’ll wear a protective mask.

Meanwhile, the Mavs aren’t sure if center Tyson Chandler (sprained left ankle) will play. Chandler missed last Wednesday’s win over Utah after getting hurt in the Feb. 9 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Rondo went through his first practice Tuesday after he suffered an orbital fracture to his left eye and a nasal fracture during a violent collision with teammate Richard Jefferson on Jan. 31 against the Orlando Magic. Rondo avoided surgery, missed six games and will join his teammates for the final 27 games of the season.

“I have a mask made for me, but I don’t know if I’m going to wear it or not,” Rondo said. “I tried to wear it today at practice, but like I said, we didn’t have much contact for me to wear the mask, so I didn’t put it on.

“I came in [Monday] night and shot in the mask. It’s specially made for my face, so it’s not uncomfortable.”

Rondo said he’s not experiencing any pain in his face.

“The first couple days were painful with the swelling, but the more the swelling went down, the less pain,” Rondo said. “Actually I thought I was going to be able to come back out and play [when the incident happened].

“Once I got to the back I blew my nose and then my eye swelled up. I didn’t know I had an orbital fracture in my face or anything until I blew my nose.”

Rondo did worry about his vision, but said he has no issues.

“My main concern was double vision, and I don’t have double vision,” Rondo said. “I’ve talked to a couple doctors and for the most part, [they] pretty much said the same thing.

“If I’m not having double vision and my eye hasn’t dropped two millimeters, then I’ll be fine.”

The Mavs (36-19) are in fifth place in the Western Conferenceand were 4-2 while Rondo was out. With the race for home-court advantage in the playoffs heating up, the Mavs were eagerly waiting his return.

“I know he’s raring to go,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He was bouncing around today. He’s very enthusiastic about being back on the floor playing. He doesn’t like sitting out.”

Once he learned his prognosis, Rondo had targeted the OKC game for his return.

“That’s why if I had to do surgery, I wanted to push it up as fast as possible,” he said. “Each couple days I went back to the doctor and he evaluated me and it got better each time.”

Ledo to be waived

The Mavs plan to sign center/forward Amar’e Stoudemire to a pro-rated contract for $477,150 for the rest of this season once he clears waivers by Wednesday’s 4 p.m. deadline.

The Mavs have already told guard Ricky Ledo that he will be waived, while Stoudemire will be dressed for Thursday’s game.

The only way the Mavs will retain Ledo is if there’s a hiccup in the Stoudemire deal, such as a failed physical.

Ledo hasn’t progressed the way the Mavs hoped since they acquired him in a draft-day trade in 2013. Ledo, in fact, has spent the majority of his time with the D-League’s Texas Legends.

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Mavericks' Rondo will play Thursday against Oklahoma City."