Howard cleared to practice

Josh Howard was cleared to practice after having his sprained left wrist re-evaluated today. Team doctors removed the cast bracing his wrist and replaced it with a removable splint.

His status for the first two games of the season hasn’t changed and Howard will accompany the team on the upcoming road trip. His suspension covers the games at Cleveland (Wednesday) and Atlanta (Friday), but he’ll remain on the active roster leaving the Mavs with 11 players in uniform for the first two games.

“Josh for us plugs a lot of holes on both ends of the floor,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “He can score in a hurry. He gets out to 16-point quarters in heartbeat. He really gets our offense going. On defense he’s long. He’s a great rebounder for his size, so he does a lot of things for us just with him being active.

“We’re definitely going to miss him, but we’ve got enough perimeter players that can step in and make plays. That’s how we won 67 games last year. When somebody was out, somebody else was able to fill in and play.”

Howard is expected back for the home opener Saturday against Sacramento.