Baron Davis could practice today, debut on Saturday.

Both Mike D'Antoni and Baron Davis himself have been reluctant to give any firm indication of when the new Knick point guard would finally debut, but Marc Berman seems to be on the case. Berman reports:

Baron Davis is likely to participate in his first practice today and the Knicks are shooting for the injured point guard to make his debut Saturday in Houston for the finale to their four-game road trip, according to sources.

The Knicks prefer to start Davis on the road because there would be less pressure for him to perform. But if he has the slightest setback during practices, then his debut would be pushed back to the first game back, against the Pistons at the Garden next Tuesday.

If there were no setbacks in his running drills yesterday, Davis, suffering from a herniated disc, is expected to be cleared this morning but his first practice could be limited.

As Berman notes, a return this weekend or even later would constitute a much quicker turnaround than was suggested when the Davis injury was first announced (at which time it may have been intentionally exaggerated). One just hopes so hard that Davis isn't being rushed and runs minimal risk of aggravating his back injury in a match-up with Kyle Lowry and forever thereafter. One should also probably avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalk for the foreseeable future just to be safe, especially if Baron Davis happens to be one's mother.

(Also of note in the linked article: Iman Shumpert has switched from sliced tomatoes to "stacks of sliced melon" as a preventative measure against the Cramperts.)