Forward Travis Outlaw is expected to return to the Trail Blazers and play this month, perhaps as soon as the Feb. 21 home game against Utah.

"This is definitely a blessing,'' Outlaw said. "To come back this early, I would be happy.''

Outlaw, who broke his left foot Nov. 14 at Charlotte, has been cleared for contact drills beginning Feb. 15, the first day after the All-Star Break, general manager Kevin Pritchard said Tuesday. 

"I would imagine we'd like to get him on the court soon after that,'' Pritchard said with a smile.

TUALATIN -- The beleaguered Trail Blazers received both a welcome sight and a blatant reminder of how bad things have become Wednesday morning, and it came wrapped up in a 6-foot-9 hobbling package. 

For the first time since breaking his left foot in November, Travis Outlaw returned to the team, watching practice and bantering with teammates. Outlaw said he does not expect to play until March, but his presence, which had grown so important to the chemistry of the locker room in recent seasons, was refreshing. 

"It's good to have him back around the team," Brandon Roy said. 

BY JOE FREEMAN

The Trail Blazers were coasting to a smooth and dominant victory Wednesday night at the Rose Garden when the unthinkable began happening.

Steve Blake and Rudy Fernandez started committing sloppy turnovers. The Blazers couldn't buy a jumper.

All the while, the Detroit Pistons -- playing the second game of a back-to-back -- caught fire, draining three-pointers, forcing steals and flipping a sure Blazers' victory upside down. A comfortable 20-point fourth-quarter Blazers lead morphed into a how-did-this-happen one-point nail-biter.

What was initially diagnosed as a 6-8 week foot injury for Travis Outlaw will now keep the Blazers’ second-best clutch player out for three to five monthsfollowing surgery earlier today.

According to the Oregonian, Outlaw’s foot had been bothering up for a few days leading up to Saturday’s win against Charlotte, when he suffered the fracture: