Bryant to Undergo Shoulder Surgery Today

Kobe Bryant will have shoulder surgery today in New York, a decision made after consultations with four doctors and arrived at less than a week after he was diagnosed with a torn labrum.

Dr. Louis Bigliani, a shoulder specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, will perform the surgery. Bryant is expected to be released today and spend another day or two in New York before returning to Los Angeles.

After examining Bryant’s shoulder and the MRI exam last week in New York, Bigliani is not sure Bryant has a torn labrum, and therefore could not estimate durations of surgery or recovery for Bryant.

After team physician Steve Lombardo’s conclusion that he had a tear in his labrum -- a ring of soft tissue in the shoulder socket -- Bryant received three more opinions, each slightly different from the previous. Dr. James Andrews, a noted shoulder specialist in Birmingham, Ala., was among those consulted. The difference of interpretation, according to a team official, was due to the inherent vagaries of reading MRI exams.

If Bigliani, professor and chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian, does indeed find a torn labrum, the consensus opinion is that Bryant will recover from surgery in time for training camp, which opens around Oct. 1.

USA Basketball has been operating for more than a week under the assumption that Bryant probably would not play in the Olympic qualifying tournament this summer but would be available for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Still, the organization has not tried to gather members of the senior men’s committee in order to identify a replacement as it awaits the results of today’s surgery and the doctor’s conclusions.

Though he notified USA Basketball of his injury shortly after it was diagnosed, Bryant, who desperately hoped to play both this summer and next, has not officially withdrawn.

Bryant injured his shoulder on April 22, during the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He played 10 more games, and only during a postseason examination was he convinced to have his shoulder tested.

He averaged 30 points, a career high, and 6.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists in the regular season, in which he did not miss a game despite some nagging injuries.

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Shaquille O’Neal, in the process of hiring a personal trainer, has more work ahead of him than many imagined.

This summer, O’Neal will attempt to harden a body that has swelled to at least 355 pounds with body fat of well more than the 14% he often has claimed. According to measurements taken last week, O’Neal’s body fat is closer to 18% or 20%.

Asked nearly a week ago about his summer plans, O’Neal bristled at the notion he had become overweight and that it had been a factor in the Lakers’ early playoff exit. Indeed, he said, it was Coach Phil Jackson’s responsibility to rework the offense through him and management’s responsibility to rework a roster that has aged and thinned around him since the Lakers won their third consecutive title.

Any demand for the ball, of course, means taking it out of Bryant’s hands at a time when Bryant is beginning to feel less bound by the triangle and, perhaps, the urges of pending free agency and offensive freedom. There has been talk in the organization that it might be time to have the offensive emphasis switch to the younger and more versatile Bryant, much as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once abdicated the ball to Magic Johnson.