Bryant’s Injury Caps a Three-Fall

Kobe Bryant is expected to miss at least two or three weeks because of his sprained right shoulder, the Lakers announced Tuesday, pushing the familiarization process among the team’s four superstars back again.

An MRI examination Tuesday confirmed the sprain and Bryant, who probably will be put on the injured list today, was put on a regimen of rest and physical therapy.

He joins a Laker training room already crowded with Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone, who both also will miss tonight’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center.

O’Neal, who is recovering from a strained calf, is the closest to returning. He has been cleared to play by the team’s medical staff, Coach Phil Jackson said. However, O’Neal did not practice Tuesday and might not play until Friday or Saturday at the earliest. Malone, first among the future Hall of Famers to go when he sprained his knee on Dec. 21, is not expected to play for another two or three weeks.

The good news for Bryant was the MRI did not divulge complications from June 12 surgery in which doctors removed an inflamed bursa sac and trimmed a frayed labrum, Jackson said. Still, the notably tough Bryant will be sidelined again in a season already fractured by rehabilitation from knee surgery and periodic dates in court from the sexual assault charges he faces in Colorado. It is unknown how his injury will affect his expected selection to the All-Star game; he leads all Western Conference players in the voting.

Bryant left Staples Center Monday night without speaking to reporters and he was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

He averaged 22 points in 33 games before Cleveland’s Kedrick Brown bit on a fake Monday night and came down on Bryant’s shoulder, causing the damage.

Bryant played, right arm dangling at his side, after the collision. Jackson let him continue until he hoisted a long left-handed jumper amid four healthy teammates. But he did not play the second half, the start of what could be several weeks off.

The injury, Jackson said, was “not a terrific injury that’s going to debilitate him for the season, but it’s something that can sideline him and he’s going to have to do therapy to get it back together.”

The Lakers, who have 14 players on their roster -- two on the injured list -- will add Ime Udoka, a player they cut in training camp who later caught on with the Charleston Lowgators of the National Basketball Development League. Udoka, a 6-foot-6 swingman, got a 10-day contract after the Lakers pored over a list of available players that included Brian Shaw, Jannero Pargo and, just for kicks, Michael Jordan. (General Manager Mitch Kupchak said there was no way it would happen, and he did not make a call.)

Rick Fox, who had foot surgery in May, is on the injured list. Fox had hoped to be back by now, but Jackson believes he is at least a week away from being game ready.

“He’s close, but he’s been close,” Jackson said. “We still have to think about personnel to help our team without Kobe on the floor. That’s another factor. If Rick was a replacement person for that position, a guard, it would be pretty easy to do. But, it’s not quite the same.”

Bryant’s absence leaves the Lakers with three healthy guards -- Gary Payton, Derek Fisher and Kareem Rush. It also leaves them without their leading scorer and arguably their best athlete. Bryant averaged 24 points in the nine games since Malone injured his knee and frequently he had drawn the opposing team’s most difficult defensive assignment.

His injury, like Malone’s and O’Neal’s, places further pressure on the team’s young players and on a system he occasionally chooses to run. Of the four players who were expected to carry the team, only Payton is healthy.

“We’re OK,” Payton said Tuesday in a gym crowded with reporters. “We’ve got some guys out there who can play. I think they’re just going to have to step it up and get more confidence in themselves.”

Bryant’s playing time, along with his 17 shots a game, must be replaced. O’Neal’s return -- he said Monday he hoped to play tonight or Friday -- would help in that regard. But the Lakers won’t push.

“I think he understands we definitely need him out there to play to present the best opportunity for us to win,” Jackson said of O’Neal. “But he knows if he comes back and he’s not right, it’s not going to do any good. It’s going to bring another injury around or bring something else that’s not right for him. He’s got to make that decision himself. He’s been medically cleared now and it’s his opportunity to come back on his own.”

That leaves the rest of the production up to Devean George, who has struggled since Christmas, Slava Medvedenko, who has been inconsistent, Fisher, who is uncomfortable in his role, and a handful of reserves, many of them untested.

“We’re going to need effort from everybody,” Bryon Russell said, “and shoot the ball when you’re open.”

Jackson and Kupchak had hoped to use these months to integrate Malone and Payton into a triangle offense previously dominated by O’Neal and Bryant.

“It’s not how you would script it,” Kupchak said. “You’d prefer to have the guys together from day one. But, if they can be together for two-plus months, I think we’ll be fine.”

While the Lakers started 18-3, the players admitted to relying less on Jackson’s system and more on their own skills. Payton pushed the ball and Malone championed defensive integrity and ball movement, and O’Neal and Bryant basically fell in with them. They are 5-8 since, the last six games with neither Malone nor O’Neal in the lineup.

If Malone and Bryant were to return together by, say, Feb. 1, the four still would have 2 1/2 months -- 39 games -- to position themselves for the postseason and acquire their playoff legs.

“They’ll be all right,” Jackson said. “There will be plenty of time to get it together.”