Bryant Thought It Was Worse

In the moments he spent on his elbows and knees, teammates standing over him on the basketball court, Kobe Bryant said, he believed he’d done terrible damage to his shoulder.

Two days later, an MRI examination having shown a Grade 1 sprain and team doctors saying it could be two or three weeks before he would play again, Bryant expressed only relief.

“[I] thought it was worse,” he said. “I thought I was going to lift up off the floor and my shoulder was going to drop down. He came down on it, I heard snapping, popping, all that. I thought it was worse. I thought it was really bad....

“I thought it was out of the socket, arm was going to drop. I thought I was done. It felt bad, it sounded bad.”

According to the Lakers, Bryant has done nothing to undo his surgery of June 12. Bryant went to the injured list Wednesday because of the sprain, with estimates on his recovery still vague.

He spoke slowly and softly, his T-shirt bunched near his right shoulder, which was wrapped. He had become the third Laker superstar in less than a month to be injured, the third to miss time in a season that was supposed to be about learning to play together.

Instead, Bryant has begun treatment and therapy. He said he did not have an idea when he would return.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll just try to educate myself better on the injury.”

He must serve at least five games on the injured list, so technically he could play against Dallas next Thursday, however improbable that is.

Meantime, Bryant will be freer to tend to his legal issues. He has hearings scheduled in Eagle, Colo., for Jan. 23 and Feb. 2 and 3. He has often said, however, that basketball has served his psyche well, and now basketball will be postponed.

“My getaway now will be every single one of your columns. It’ll be like reading the comics,” he said, laughing. “Naw, I’m just playing. I love basketball so much, I’m just going to learn and watch and ... pick up things where I can. I’ll just try to turn a negative into a positive in some kind of way.”

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Phil Jackson on Wednesday sought to soften his stance on Shaquille O’Neal’s return from his calf injury, saying he had misunderstood conversations with the team medical staff and that O’Neal was not as close as he had believed.

“I may have jumped the gun a little bit to say that, you know, it’s up to Shaq to play and made it sound like he could play tonight or [Friday] or whatever,” Jackson said. “But medically, there’s nothing wrong with him as far as a medical instance. But still, he has too much pressure on the calf to probably play for a while. So we’re not projecting any date. We are hopeful he’ll play soon.”

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Because of Bryant’s injury, the Lakers needed a swingman, someone who knows the offense, maybe a veteran who could do Kobe-ish things, someone available.

Say, Michael Jordan.

Jackson smiled thinly. He never seriously considered it.

“It’s been suggested to me a couple times, but no,” Jackson said.

By Jeanie Buss, for one, he said.

“I said I wouldn’t do that to our friendship,” Jackson said. “I don’t think it’s fair to him. He’s retired. Even though we’re in need, it’s not right.”

The Lakers signed Ime Udoka, a training camp player for them, to a 10-day contract.

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Horace Grant said he would travel to Georgia today to tend to his ailing father, Harvey, and that he would return when he was confident of his father’s condition. He expects to miss Friday’s game against the Sacramento Kings and perhaps Saturday’s game against the Clippers.