After 22 days of being sidelined with a broken big toe on his right foot, Paul Millsap has been officially upgraded to questionable prior to the Denver Nuggets taking on the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night in Arizona.

Millsap — who broke his big toe on his right foot back on December 7th against the Charlotte Hornets — originally had a 4-to-6 week recovery time, which would have placed his return date sometime between January 4th and January 18th. Thankfully for the Nuggets — who have a whopping eight players on their injury report prior to their matchup with the Suns — Millsap seems to be on track to return even sooner than anyone could have expected.

Millsap, if he does actually play against the Suns, will have returned to the Nuggets about a week earlier than the earliest expectations. When it comes to broken toes, usually the biggest obstacle to overcome is dealing with the pain and that his what Millsap explained when asked about what he needs to do to get back onto the floor for Denver.

“Comfortability and there is still some pain there,” Millsap said at practice on Thursday afternoon when asked about what obstacles he still needs to overcome before he can return for Denver. “There is probably going to be some pain so there is going to be a pain tolerance situation. Hopefully it heals faster to where the pain is decreased and I can get out there and do what I do.”

The next step for Millsap is to see how his toe responds to his pregame warmup routine before the Nuggets take on the Suns. Being that Denver is on the second night of a back-to-back, there was no shootaround for Millsap to test out his ankle. His availability will likely not be known until the starters are announced about 30 minutes prior to game time and there will not be any guarantee that he will rejoin the starting lineup even if he does play. Malone has brought players off the bench after their injuries before and that could be the case once again.

Regardless of if Millsap plays or not against the Suns, the fact that he has been upgraded to questionable is a huge step in the right direction.

I can already hear the questions pouring in about where Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Malik Beasley, Isaiah Thomas, Jarred Vanderbilt and Michael Porter Jr. are at in their respective rehabilitation processes so let’s just go player by player once again

After sustaining ankle injuries against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, both Murray and Beasley have popped up on the Nuggets injury report. Murray, who has only missed one game in his three-plus years in the NBA, is officially listed as probable with a right ankle sprain and he is expected to play. On the other hand, Beasley left the Nuggets game against the Spurs with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. He is listed as questionable, but who knows if he will or will not play. If Beasley is unable to go, look for Torrey Craig and possibly Brandon Goodwin to see extended minutes in his absence.

Harris is the next closest player to returning for Denver. The Nuggets are being extremely conservative with him and are making sure that he is fully healthy before he rejoins his teammates on the hardwood. He seems to be on tract to return within the next few games.

Barton is also still progressing through his rehabilitation process. He has been participating in parts of practice, but Denver will continue to be extremely careful with his injury as well. Barton has never sustained a series injury before so there is no point of reference on how his body will respond to an increased workload.

Isaiah Thomas has apparently ramped up his workload recently and has even began to play with small amounts of contact, but there is still no timetable for his return. Vanderbilt has also participated in small portions of practice, but also does not have a timetable. Porter Jr. also has no timetable for his return.