PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns desperately need Oso Ighodaro back into their lineup.

That could be happening soon.

Ighodaro, who suffered an oblique injury in the Suns' season opener last week, has missed their last two games but could potentially return for Friday's home matchup against the Denver Nuggets.

"He went through practice today, so he did most of practice. This was his highest day back. It's helpful we've got a couple days — that's been good over the last week but we're going to be smart with him the same. We'll see how he reacts [after] today's practice but he went through most of practice," Suns coach Jordan Ott said via PHNX Suns.

Phoenix is just 1-2 on the season thus far and has been out-rebounded and out-hustled to eye-opening extents to start the year, massivly uncharacteristic for an Ott-coached team.

Yesterday, Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro offered this update on Ighodaro: "Have heard Suns big man Oso Ighodaro is feeling better but still listed as day to day so no change on his status for the Denver game on Friday night."

Ighodaro, in his third season, lost opening night starting duties to Khaman Maluach. However, Maluach and Duop Reath as a 1-2 punch down low hasn't benefited the Suns.

Ighodaro, at this point, feels like a strong upgrade over Maluach — which is something our own Brendan Mau highlighted.

"Although Ighodaro won't solve their rebounding problems, his playmaking, ball-handling and ability to switch defensively could end up being a big boost to a starting lineup that has not really looked connected at all," he wrote.

You can read more about that here.