Gordon still not healthy enough to practice

Ben Gordon's return to the United Center on Wednesday might be in street clothes.

Still nursing a sprained left ankle suffered last week against Cleveland, Gordon did not practice Tuesday with the Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills, Mich. If he feels better on Wednesday, he might try to give it a shot, but sitting out against the Bulls is a distinct possibility. Gordon has already missed two games with the injury.

The 6-foot-2 guard was the Bulls' top scorer for the past four seasons, but jumped to Detroit as a free agent last summer, signing a five-year deal worth an average of $11.5 million.

The Bulls made smaller offers the previous two years that Gordon turned down, but the team never made a serious attempt to re-sign him this summer.

Gordon was averaging 19.8 points and shooting 44.3 percent from the field when the injury occurred.

The Pistons (6-11) are also playing without Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back), while Charlie Villanueva is questionable after breaking his nose in Sunday's win over Atlanta.

His former teammates wished Gordon well on Tuesday at the Berto Center.

"Ben was probably the best scorer I ever played with," Derrick Rose said. "For him to be in another jersey kind of hurts. But it’s the NBA, you’re not going to play with the same people every year. I’m happy that he’s doing fine now and am sorry to hear about the injury. I hope he does play tomorrow."