The defending champions have secured a spot in the playoffs with three round-robin games remaining.
McLaughlin is hungry to return to court in time for the playoffs, but told the Otago Daily Times it was unclear whether he would make the deadline.
The 25-year-old America point guard has been sidelined with a knee injury since the 93-84 loss to the Auckland Tuatara in Dunedin on May 18.
The injury was worse than initially thought and there is no set timeframe for his return.
The Nuggets have taken a punt on him recovering, though.
"Really right now I’m just doing stuff in the weight room — no jumping or running yet but just lifting and trying to keep in shape," he said.
"I’m not sure yet [whether I’ll be back for the playoffs]. It just really depends on when the pain goes away, that’s about it.
"I want to be back for the finals, for sure. But I’m not sure what the healing process is going to be like."
McLaughlin had been in wonderful form before the mishap. He strung together two career-high games.
He landed 31 points during the 103-94 win against the Wellington Saints and followed that up with 39 points in the loss to the Tuatara.
For his troubles he collected back-to-back National Basketball League performance of the week awards.
He was on a roll which made the setback even more annoying.
"It is definitely frustrating. I felt like in the last two games I was getting back into the groove and feeling good.
"But I’ve just got to ... keep working on things I can work on."
The Nuggets’ form dipped away in his absence. But a gutsy win against the Saints in Wellington earlier this month, and the arrival of Tai Webster, has got the team back on track.
His flatmate Todd Withers and Australian shooting guard Michael Harris have put in some big shifts as well.
"We had some tough losses. But every team is going to have obstacles that they’ve got to get through and that was the tough stretch that we had.
"But right now ... we’ve turned in the right direction."
