It’s not Bryant’s age, it’s mileage

Kobe Bryant’s basketball mortality didn’t just pop up in the last week or two as a smoldering topic.

Coach Phil Jackson talked about it with him over the summer.

“One of the things as you grow up in this game, the wear and tear on the body is significant,” Jackson said before Sunday’s 91-81 win over Memphis. “He’s probably got 20,000 minutes now, or more, probably. Lot of playoff games. There’s limitations of what you can do after you get some miles. He’s going to return to a position where he’s going to dazzle and be remarkable in some things out there, but he’s never going to be 100% with that knee again.

“We talked about it this summer about how to sustain another eight to 10 years of play. He’s a terrific athlete. He should be able to play a long time. Some of it is practice time, some of it’s about on-the-court excess work or unnecessary work and keeping the workload down.”

Bryant, 28 and in his 11th season, had actually topped 30,000 minutes before this season -- 25,239 in regular-season games and 4,870 in the playoffs.

Jackson, who witnessed firsthand the career evolution of another prolific scorer, outlined the three phases of Michael Jordan’s NBA years.

“There was an early phase in which he like was the sole person in our offense and generated a lot of offense,” said Jackson, who coached Jordan for eight seasons during the 1990s with the Chicago Bulls, winning six NBA titles. “And then there was a phase in which we won three championships in four years. And then he retired, and when he came back he was a different player. He knew how to save a step and how to take a different [approach]. Instead of taking it to the hoop all the time, how to pull up and take the 14-footer. At that time he was 34, 35, and he was really capable of judging what the game demanded.”

In which phase is Bryant?

“He’s moved into the second phase of his career where he knows what he can do at what times on the court,” Jackson said. “Right now, he knows he can’t do it for a sustained period of time. He’s not in the condition yet. [But] he’s still taking that ball to the front of the rim and getting smacked and getting in tough situations.”

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Kwame Brown played for the first time this season after sitting out more than three weeks because of a bruised rotator cuff and bursitis in his right shoulder.

Brown will see a doctor today for his shoulder, which continues to be a problem, although he stated plainly why he wanted to play Sunday against Memphis.

“Bored to death,” he said.

Brown had six points and two rebounds against the Grizzlies.

“We don’t expect him to be anywhere close to in sync or in shape, but he’ll be a body we can use out there,” Jackson said. “We got beat on the boards the other night [against Detroit]. He’ll help us.”

Guard Shammond Williams, who has averaged one point in three games, was put on the inactive list for Sunday’s game.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com