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Howard (back) has been ruled out for Thursday's season opener against the Heat, Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports reports.
Howard has been practicing in full since Monday and also went through shootaround Thursday morning, but it appears the Wizards are going to be overly cautious with the big man. The hope is to get a few more practice sessions under his belt and if all goes well, there's a chance Howard will then be cleared for Saturday's tilt with the Raptors or Monday's game against the Trail Blazers. With Howard sidelined, look for Ian Mahinmi to draw the start at center and Jason Smith could also be deployed for more minutes at the position as well.
