Help from Brown is not on the way

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson reached into his pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief.

He had been asked a question about the health of Kwame Brown.

“Want to give that to him?” Jackson said sarcastically.

Jackson also could have chosen to wave the handkerchief as a sign of surrender: Coaches have given up trying to pinpoint when Brown, an important part of the Lakers’ interior defense, will be back from a tender left ankle that has forced him to miss 33 of the last 48 games.

He aggravated a sprain and a bone bruise in the ankle when Denver center Marcus Camby stepped on it last week. The months-long saga continued Thursday when Brown showed up to the Lakers-Clippers game wearing a walking boot, following doctor’s orders.

There are shoulder shrugs from almost everybody when Brown’s condition is brought up. Even from Brown.

“If it feels better today, I’ll get on a plane” to Phoenix, he said. “Maybe I’ll play the last two games. I don’t know.”

The Lakers have three regular-season games left -- at Phoenix tonight, at home Sunday against Seattle and at Sacramento on Wednesday.

Brown’s numbers aren’t spectacular -- he averages 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds -- but he adds bulk and muscle down low defensively.

“If he wants to help us,” Jackson said, “it’s really important he figures out a way to do it.”

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Lakers rookie guard Jordan Farmar played limited minutes in his third and final day of double duty.

He played only 21 minutes Thursday afternoon for the Lakers’ Development League team after averaging 37 minutes in two other games with the D-Fenders. He scored six points on two-for-eight shooting against the Anaheim Arsenal at Staples Center.

He then scored no points in five minutes for the Lakers.

A player can be sent down to the Development League only three times a season, which means Farmar will be with the Lakers the rest of the way.

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Minnesota Timberwolves General Manager Kevin McHale included a lottery-protected first-round pick as part of the August 2005 sign-and-trade deal that brought Sam Cassell to the Clippers.

Minnesota acquired guards Marko Jaric -- who received a $37.875-million contract -- and seldom-used Lionel Chalmers for Cassell and the pick the Clippers will receive the first season Minnesota finishes no lower than 10th in the league.

The Timberwolves, in danger of losing the pick, announced Wednesday that All-Star forward Kevin Garnett was too injured to play, saying he would be sidelined indefinitely because of a leg injury.

Garnett recently complained about playing less than he would prefer, so the timing of the announcement surprised reporters who cover the team. Moreover, with the Timberwolves in striking distance of a top-10 record late last season, they determined Garnett was too injured to play the final six games.

Coincidence?

The Clippers don’t think so.

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it doesn’t matter,” Cassell said. “It’s like I always say, ‘If you’re worried about somebody else in this league giving you help, you’re in the wrong sport.’ ”

Coach Mike Dunleavy agreed.

“A team’s obligation is to do the best it can for itself,” he said. “If a guy is going into the last game of the year, and he’s locked in [statistically], and they want to play young guys, they want to get guys more experience, they want to do whatever they want to do, then that’s their right. You just have to live with it. Period.”

In addition to the pick situation, Garnett’s status could have an effect on the Western Conference playoff race.

Beginning play Thursday, the Clippers trailed the Golden State Warriors by half a game for the eighth and final playoff berth. Minnesota plays the Warriors on Sunday at Oakland.

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Tim Thomas said he received a cortisone shot in his injured left wrist Wednesday and took pain medication. He wore a wrist brace for the second game in a row.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

jason.reid@latimes.com