TORONTO - Although DeMar DeRozan is starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, he and the Raptors have decided it best to delay his imminent return to the lineup until next week.

Cleared by team doctors after undergoing tests on his injured groin on Tuesday, DeRozan - who has missed Toronto's last 18 games - says he is fully healed and pain-free but doesn't want to rush the process.

The Raptors had hoped to have their all-star guard back in uniform as early as Thursday, when they host the Charlotte Hornets, but they've opted to err on the side of caution, getting DeRozan in a few more practices and building his conditioning up following a six-week absence.

"At first I was [hoping to play Thursday]," DeRozan admitted after going through his third practice since the injury on Wednesday morning. "I owe that to [my teammates], not to just jump back in the game. I want to get a couple more practices in over these next couple days and then make a comeback."

"I was hoping, fingers crossed, toes crossed," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "Realistically, I knew that if there was a question or if there was a little doubt, we were going to be patient and not rush him back. Selfishly, from a coach's [perspective], I wanted him to come back [Thursday]. It's the right thing to do. I totally understand. I'm on board with it. I agree with it."

The team hasn't officially ruled DeRozan out for Saturday's game at home to Boston but a return sometime next week appears more likely. The Raptors' guard is hoping to get in an additional three-to-four practices before suiting up again. If that's the case, we could see him back for Wednesday's tilt with Philadelphia or Friday's contest against Atlanta.

"He looks good in practice," Casey continued. "But just for his safety and his future health and his career, we're going to be prudent just to make sure we go at the right pace, bring him back at the right time. And it's the right thing to do. All of the doctors are saying it. I know it is killing him, because he's champing at the bit. I've seen so many players have the same injury. You think you're back. But if those fibres have not grown back and matured in the right way, the littlest torque could pull it out and then he's out for the rest of the year. We want to be smart. Next man up."

It's been a long month and change for DeRozan, a player that had missed just 10 games due to injury over his first five years in the league. Learning to cope with and recover from the first health-related setback of his playing career hasn't been easy on the 25-year-old, but he is relieved to be nearing the end of his forced time off.

"It's tough for me because I never really had a major injury," he said. "Just dealing with it, having to start all over, being patient every single day, working on it, having to heal, going through the pain and really having to get my rhythm back, it's definitely been tough. But it's a new challenge for me. I think I've grown mentally more when it comes to basketball than I may have if I wasn't hurt. So I take pros and cons from it."

DeRozan has been trying to stay busy. Traveling with the team and often rehabbing on the court before games and after practices, the Raptors' guard has also been sitting in on the coaches' meetings. 

He has watched the team's varying results, mostly from behind the scenes - he's said that sitting on the bench makes him anxious. The Raptors are 11-7 without DeRozan but 10 of those wins have come against inferior competition - they're 1-6 when facing winning teams over that span.

"I think it's bigger than me," he said. "Besides the last couple games the team lost, they've been playing well. They have their rhythm and like I said, I don't just want to hop back out there."

"There's a lot of new plays they put in that I still got to get down pat - plays for [Terrence Ross], plays for Kyle [Lowry] and everything. So I want to make sure I get all that down pat before I come back so there won't be [any] learning on the [fly]."

During that time, Lowry has put the team on his shoulders, running many of the plays that are generally called for DeRozan, as the primary option on offence.

"He's been amazing, man, honestly," DeRozan said of Lowry. "I can't even say words that can explain how he's been playing. He definitely took the team on his back. It's definitely been amazing.

"He's run every single one of my plays since I've been out," he joked. "It kinda [makes] me happy, but I tell 'em one thing y'all can't do is get to the free throw line like me." (The Raptors are averaging nearly seven fewer free throw attempts per game without DeRozan)

It was around this time last year that DeRozan became a first-time all-star and he believes Lowry is well on his way to doing the same this season. He insisted they both would have made the team if not for his injury, but isn't stressing his own status, instead he's focused on getting healthy and reaching that level once again.

"I can't really worry about that because if I don't get this injury right I might never be able to make an all-star team again," he said. "So, [the] All-Star Game [is] here [in Toronto] next year, if we're doing well I don't see why we [don't] have three people from the team in the All-Star Game. I was an all-star last year. I watch the game now, they say 'Toronto Raptors missing their all-star', so I'll always have the title no matter what."