Rondo nearing his return

Rajon Rondo said he hopes to make his season debut before the All-Star break. Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he has never spoken to Rondo or anybody in the organization about a specific return date.

This much is clear: Rondo’s return is inching closer.

Rondo, who has been out since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last January, told reporters at the team’s morning shootaround Friday in San Francisco that he hopes to make his season debut before the break. He declined to give a specific date. Boston’s final game before the break is Feb. 12.

“It’s just a feeling,” Rondo told reporters. “I’ll probably just wake up [one] morning and play.”

Pelicans

Heat

Dwyane Wade sat out Miami’s game at Brooklyn, leaving the Heat without three starters. Shane Battier (strained left quadriceps) and Mario Chalmers (strained right Achilles) remained out, with coach Erik Spoelstra saying they were getting better but the team was being cautious.

Jazz

Gordon Hayward, coming off a career-high 37 points in a win Tuesday, was out of the lineup against Cleveland because of a muscle strain in his left hip flexor.

Suns

New Orleans starting point guard Jrue Holiday is sidelined indefinitely with a lower right leg injury. The team said the injury is a stress fracture in his tibia. It is unclear when or how the injury occurred. Holiday played 29 minutes in Wednesday’s loss against Washington.

Guard Eric Bledsoe had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, and could return for the second half of the season.