Farmar to undergo knee surgery today

It doesn’t come as a surprise to the Lakers that point guard Jordan Farmar will have surgery today in Los Angeles to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Though the Lakers didn’t announce a timetable for Farmar’s return, Coach Phil Jackson estimated that it could be about eight weeks.

“Reasonably in my mind’s eyes, I’m saying, the All-Star game is somewhere around six weeks,” Jackson said about the Feb. 15 game, which is actually 7 1/2 weeks away.

“There’s a break in there. Hopefully that would be great for him to be back around that time.”

The procedure will be performed by Dr. Clarence Shields of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Group, a Lakers spokesman said.

Farmar saw team doctor Steve Lombardo and Los Angeles knee specialist Byron Patterson on Monday, and both recommended surgery.

Farmar, averaging 7.9 points and 2.4 assists in 19.6 minutes, was injured late in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game in Miami after he stole the ball and went in for a layup.

With Farmar missing the last three games, Derek Fisher, 34, has averaged 40.3 minutes per game.

The Lakers have a 14-man roster and have room to add another player, meaning they can acquire a guard via trade or as a free agent.

Tyronn Lue, who played three seasons with the Lakers and was part of championship teams in 2000 and 2001, is getting limited playing time in Milwaukee and probably would welcome the opportunity to play for a championship contender.

Jannero Pargo is another veteran guard who might help, but he is in a murky situation with a Russian pro team, Dynamo Moscow, which has been late in paying him on a few occasions.

“Jannero’s situation is kind of day to day, week to week,” said his agent, Mark Bartelstein. “He’s currently under contract. There are possibilities of him coming back [to the NBA], and a lot of teams would like to have him. I don’t want to sit and tell you nothing’s going to happen. But there’s nothing’s imminent either.”

The Phoenix Suns recently held an open workout for a backup point guard, inviting six players, including Darrell Armstrong, Troy Hudson and Damon Stoudamire.

Jackson was asked if the Lakers would consider doing that.

“It’s very possible we would do that,” he said. “But we haven’t talked about it. We haven’t discussed the people.”

Lakers not alone

Many Lakers fans think their team is the only one that has trouble defending the pick-and-roll. The truth of the matter is that nearly every team has problems defending it.

“It’s very accurate,” Jackson said.

New Orleans Coach Byron Scott agreed with Jackson.

“All 30 teams have that problem,” Scott said. “We’ve got problems, too. The biggest thing we tell our guys is that it’s hard work doing it. You’ve got to be committed to do it.”

The Lakers have a big frontline in 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Bynum, the team’s center, is the player teams like to pick on the most.

“Andrew, I think, has responded pretty well to the challenge,” Jackson said. “He has protective instincts in the lane. We always say there’s a chain attached to the basket standard that only goes out 15 feet. You’ve got to break that chain. Now he’s getting out there better.”

Mike Bresnahan contributed to this report.

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broderick.turner@latimes.com