New York Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis is "itchy" to return to the court, but was non-committal on his chances of playing in the 2018-19 season.
The seven-footer tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February and has been running lightly and shooting around with a little less than a month to go before the regular season starts.
But Porzingis is taking an understandably conservative approach to his recovery and when asked at the NBA's media day if he will play this season, he said: "It's hard to say."
He elaborated: "Whenever I'm ready, I'm going to be back.
"I'm getting itchy, and I want to be back on the court as soon as possible. But it won't happen until I am 110 per cent and medically cleared."
Porzingis added that he is happy with the approach being taken by new head coach David Fizdale, who visited Latvia to converse face to face with his franchise's biggest star.
"So far it's good vibes around here, good energy around here," he said.
"It's good to be in an environment like this. We'll see. I just got here from Europe, but there is good energy. That's the first thing I saw and am happy about."
Porzingis averaged 22.7 points per game with 6.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.4 blocks in 48 games last season before injury curtailed his season.
The Knicks finished 29-53 and missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
