Mihm Joins Odom on the Sideline

Lamar Odom now has company in the I-can’t-raise-my-right-arm club.

Twenty-four hours after Odom sat out a game because of torn cartilage in the upper right side of his ribcage, center Chris Mihm joined him in street clothes Saturday at the end of the Laker bench because of a sprained right shoulder.

Mihm is game-to-game after being fouled by Primoz Brezec toward the end of the Lakers’ loss Friday in Charlotte.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to get it to calm down but right now I can’t raise my arm,” Mihm said before Saturday’s game against New Orleans/Oklahoma City. “Even kind of walking around right now, if I move it the wrong way, it hurts.”

Mihm and Odom were each hooked up to electrical-stimulation devices Saturday, with electrodes driving therapeutic electric currents and anti-inflammatory medicine toward their specific injuries.

Odom is improving -- “I slept better [Friday] night, so I’m not as grumpy,” he said -- but how long his injury will last is unclear. He said he hoped to “gut it out” and play Tuesday against Dallas.

Even with Odom and Mihm out, Laker Coach Phil Jackson said he did not give much thought to starting 18-year-old Andrew Bynum.

“None, nil, zero,” he said. “Not at all, OK?”

The speed of the Hornets, specifically guards Chris Paul and Speedy Claxton, would have been too much for Bynum from the start, Jackson said.

“It’s not fair to him,” he said. “This is a team that’s going to have the kind of speed in which it takes about three seconds for Paul to get the ball up the court to the free-throw line and Drew will just be in the starting blocks still when they get there.”

Bynum had two points, three rebounds and three turnovers in 16 minutes.

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If Mihm and Odom can’t play Tuesday, Jackson will probably activate rookie Ronny Turiaf, who has an appointment Monday in Toronto to receive a work visa that would allow him to play in games.