Andrea Bargnani to make season debut on Wednesday

The New York Knicks are going to close their 2014 calendar year in the most fitting way imaginable: Andrea Bargnani is returning on New Year's Eve.

Or so he says. The team is officially listing him as questionable, but he participated in practice in full on Tuesday and the player himself said he's going to play Wednesday.

Bargnani has missed the entire season so far, first due to a hamstring strain and later a calf strain. He played just 42 games a season ago and a combined 66 in the two years before that, creating quite the injury prone label for himself.

There's also the whole "no longer any good at basketball" label. Bargnani has disappointed in Gotham after being acquired from the Toronto Raptors for a handful of draft picks, averaging 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds but shooting just 27.8 percent from long range. The supposed stretch four hasn't hit at a league-average clip from outside in three seasons and no longer looked an effective offensive weapon last year.

Still, the Knicks could use him, and he represents a fairly major addition to a frontcourt that will be without Amar'e Stoudemire and already leans heavily on role players Quincy Acy, Cole Aldrich and Travis Wear. Bargnani may not be a major talent any longer at age 29 - four years removed from his best season - but on this 5-28 team, he moves the needle.

Bargnani has all kind of incentive to get on the floor and get on a roll, as he'll be an unrestricted free agent for the first time this summer. He's expecting to remain in the NBA rather than head to Europe, and he has four months to prove his worth to the market.