Ian Mahinmi to return this season, for Austin Toros

The Big Yawn, Ian Mahinmi, is going to return this season for the Toros, coming back from what was earlier believed to be season-ending surgery.

Mahinmi, named to the First Team All D-League team last season after spending nearly the entire season with Austin instead of San Antonio, was expected to be out 6-10 weeks as of January 31.  Mahinmi had to have surgery to remove a small piece of avulsed bone in his right ankle.  I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like it was way worse than the injury that took Sun Yue out for the season.  Either Ian Mahinmi is defying the french stereotype, or Sun Yue isn't the national hero I thought he was.  Sun Yue.

Actually, as recent as March 15th, Greg Popovich assumed he was out for the season, but he's apparently healed well enough to make Austin the most (on paper) talented team in the league.  They could start this lineup right now: DeMarcus Nelson, Marcus Williams, Malik Hairston, Mahinmi and Dwayne Jones.  That's scary

This doesn't bode well for the rest of the D-League.  Last season, Mahinmi averaged 17 points and eight boards, shooting 62% from the field.  Adding that kind of production, if they can mesh, will make the seven other postseason teams seasons more disappointing than that time when I woke up and thought I saw Sun Yue on my caller ID - before putting my glasses on and seeing it was Sun Yoon-Bang. Lame.