Robert Covington's return to the NBA is imminent. Unfortunately for the Minnesota Timberwolves, it now seems unlikely his presence will result in the team's increasingly long-shot odds of earning the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Wolves coach Ryan Saunders said on Monday that the Timberwolves “hope” Covington will be ready to play at some point “this week,” according to Zone Coverage's Dane Moore. Minnesota faces the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, travels to the Motor City for a tough back-to-back against the Detroit Pistons 24 hours later, then hosts the Washington Wizards on Saturday.

Covington suffered a bone bruise late in his team’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on December 31. The Timberwolves initially offered no concrete timeline for his return to the floor, and few other details concerning his treatment save for the fact that he wouldn’t require surgery. Tom Thibodeau, fired one week after the injury, only said Covington would be out “a while.”

The sixth-year veteran was acquired by Minnesota last November, along with Dario Saric, in a deal that sent unhappy All-Star wing Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers. Covington immediately established himself as a bellwether for the Timberwolves, guarding the opposition’s top perimeter threat and expanding his new team’s spacing at the other end by launching threes all over the floor.

Minnesota, losers of three straight games, now sits at 11th place in the conference standings, five and-a-half games behind the San Antonio Spurs for eighth. The Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers also hoping to vault into playoff position over the final five weeks of the regular season, too.