Derrick Rose participated in non-contact practice on Thursday and said he plans to play in USA Basketball's Friday exhibition game against Puerto Rico, according to ESPN.com.
Rose put a scare into many when he missed consecutive days of practice and sat out Team USA's Wednesday exhibition against the Dominican Republic.
MORE: Rose-less Team USA defeats Dominican | For Rose, Team USA, knee pain, questions linger
"I'm feeling good," Rose said. "I'm gonna give it a go tomorrow and see how it goes, and I'm just trying to stay positive until then."
While there were reports that Rose experienced knee soreness, he and Team USA maintained his time away from the basketball court was about rest. Rose echoed that statement on Thursday.
"I could've played, but there's no point when you can get a little bit more rest, so that's all I'm trying to do," Rose said.
Any rest Rose can get at this time is valuable going forward. Once the FIBA Basketball World Cup starts, Team USA plays five group games over the course of six days. How he proceeds at that time is unkown, but Rose said he wants to play.
"If I can play, I'm gonna play — no matter when it is or how many games it is," Rose said. "If I'm healthy enough to play, I'm gonna play. I'm not worried about that. With all the training that I've done in the past, I think that I'm prepared for it. It's just that right now I'm trying to get my legs under me a little bit more, and we won by 40 yesterday, so there wasn't any need — no disrespect to the other team."