Hornets center Emeka Okafor practiced with the team on Sunday.

He has been dealing with a sprained second toe on his right foot.

A story on Yahoo! Friday claimed that Okafor received medical clearance two weeks ago, but that he was reluctant to take part in workouts.

"There were a couple of things in the article that weren't conveyed right as far as the doctors saying it was OK for me to (practice)," Okafor told the Times-Picayune. "The article almost made it seem like I wasn't playing for the sake of not playing. What was left out was that the doctors said it was OK for me to gradually do weight-bearing activities until I felt comfortable to play. The previous week I jumped out there and started running and felt the soreness and got set back.

"This time the game plan was to gradually build. That's what we've been doing and had success doing. Today was the first time I was on the court running,  doing everything,  the non-contact things,  to try to gradually ease myself into the water."

After Sunday's rigorous practice, Okafor said the troublesome toe felt fine.

"It's cool. It's in a better place," he said. "It's definitely more manageable than it was. And that was the goal: to get to a place where it could be manageable and I could get to place where I could play. I think people have to realize I've played two straight seasons (without missing a game) and in all those games,  I haven't felt 100 percent."