Suns center Robin Lopez has been cleared to begin further rehabilitation on the bulging disk in his back.

He came out of a game about a month ago with twinge in his back and numbness in his legs.

Lopez was on the court Monday, taking contact for the first time since then.

He will not play in Phoenix's first-round series with Portland, but the second-year center could return in the second round if the Suns advance.

"As long as there's no setback, which there haven't been, you continue to ramp it up," Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. "The biggest thing is for him to respond well to the activity."