Katz: Chris McCullough cleared to play, but Nets will wait till after break to activate him

Fred Katz reports that rookie Chris McCullough has been cleared to play, but won't step on the court for another three weeks.

Source says Nets' rookie Chris McCullough is cleared to play, team plans to wait and bring him back after All-Star break.

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) February 2, 2016

The Nets have treated McCullough's torn ACL recovery very conservatively. The 6'11" forward blew out his knee at Syracuse a little more than a year ago, and originally, there was speculation that he wouldn't play at all this year. The 20-year-old has made good progress however and the Nets didn't want his first time on the court to next this July's summer league, 18 months after his injury.

Assuming the Nets choose to play him the first game after the break, that would be February 19 vs. the Knicks at Barclays. No work on whether Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (ankle) will be ready by then as well.

Katz's news seems to solve the mystery of McCullough's weekend tweets which had led to speculation he'd soon be on the court.

It's almost that time

— Chris McCullough (@briskuno) February 1, 2016

Meanwhile, in Argentina, Juan Pablo Vaulet, the team's third injured draft pick, was back on the court Monday night after missing four games.  He saw only limited action, not playing until the fourth quarter. Vaulet, who's been troubled with ankle woes, quickly scored four points in five minutes. it was only his eighth game of the season for Bahia Blanca, out of 30.