Kobe Bryant sits out Lakers’ practice

Kobe Bryant sat out the Lakers’ practice on Monday with a strained and bruised right foot. He’s officially listed as day-to-day.

While Coach Mike Brown couldn’t say either way, he admitted the possibility that Bryant may miss the team’s next game Wednesday night at Staples Center against the Clippers.

Additionally, Dwight Howard wouldn’t commit to Wednesday, saying he prefers to defer to the team’s trainer Gary Vitti (whom Howard refers to as “Father Vitti”). Brown noted Sunday that as far as he is concerned, Howard is back 100%. That may be the case but Howard will wait for Vitti to make that decision.

The team held a short, non-contact practice and Metta World Peace was able to participate while wearing a splint on his recently dislocated finger. Given that it’s on the middle finger of his right hand, the injury may affect his shooting. So far this preseason World Peace has shot 41.5% from the field and 37.0% from three, a significant uptick from last season’s 39.4% and 29.6%, respectively.

Steve Nash admitted that his ankle was sore after tweaking it Sunday night, but it wasn’t significant enough to keep him out of practice.

Brown was happy with the team’s performance against the Kings, despite the loss.

“What our guys are trying to do right now, they’re still trying to learn the feel of the offense,” said Brown. “Most of the turnovers that we had were guys trying to making a play based on a read that they thought that was there, that wasn’t there.”

The Lakers are happy to work out the kinks now to have a better offense later in the season, even if that means losing a few preseason games.

Howard was happy to have his Lakers debut behind him.

“We’ve been practicing for a while, we know how each other plays,” said Howard. “The key is making each other better. We’ve all done that with teams we’ve been on in the past but now our job is to do that with great talent and other players who are superstars in their own right.”

Finally, Brown was hopeful the team would get Jordan Hill back quickly. The expectation is that the Lakers will have either Pau Gasol or Howard on the floor more often than not with Hill as the third rotation big.

Getting Hill in the lineup could push Antawn Jamison to small forward, leaving a battle between Devin Ebanks and Jodie Meeks for the minutes behind Bryant. Without Hill, the Lakers are a little smaller with Jamison playing power forward.

The Lakers have their share of minor injuries, but none appear to be significant concerns moving forward.

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