Pau Gasol returns to action Thursday night against the Heat. (Getty Images)

After missing the past five games due to a concussion he received during the Los Angeles Lakers' 112-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets on January 6, Pau Gasol will return to action Thursday night against the Miami Heat.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni will bring him off the bench until his conditioning improves enough for him to be a starter.

This is good and also confusing news for the Lakers. The good news is that, in theory, you're adding an All-Star caliber big man back to your rotation. With Gasol's passing and rebounding ability alone, it should theoretically be a big boost to a Lakers team that was getting very thin in the frontcourt. 

The confusing news is, how do you get him to be Pau Gasol again?

Gasol has battled bad knees and bad play all season, often frustrating his coach and fans with how ineffective he's been. Gasol's numbers look decent on the surface. Gasol is one of three players averaging at least 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one block. However, he's making just 41.6 percent of his field goals and has by far the lowest true shooting percentage (47.7 percent) of his career (previous low was 54.2 percent).

The interesting thing is that Pau has actually been pretty good when he's on the court without Dwight Howard.

When Dwight and Pau are on the court together, Gasol is making just 39 percent of his shots, attempting only 2.8 free throws per 36 minutes, and the Lakers have a plus/minus of -0.1 points per 36 minutes. But when Pau is playing and Dwight is on the bench, Pau's shooting jumps to 47 percent from the field, his free-throw attempts per 36 minutes climb to 5.1, and the Lakers' per 36-minute plus/minus is a +9.2 points. 

It's been a struggle for D'Antoni and the Lakers to figure out how to succeed with both of their big men on the court at the same time. Perhaps bringing Pau off the bench for the short-term will help him get his confidence back, his conditioning up and allow D'Antoni to feature Pau more with the second unit.

Then the transition into the starting lineup could be a lot easier, or maybe they could end up using Pau as a top sixth-man option for a while to balance out the two units. Either way, it's good to see Pau Gasol healthy enough to play.