Brown is limited by ankle pain

How is Kwame Brown feeling these days?

“Terrible,” he said.

The Lakers’ starting center doesn’t really practice much, is limited in what he can do in games, and could eventually have surgery to repair his damaged left ankle, he said.

He did not play Tuesday against Memphis because he felt pain in the ankle during pregame warmups. Brown, who has seen doctors in Los Angeles and an ankle specialist in Indianapolis, will probably undergo another MRI exam today.

He thinks he knows what has to happen.

“I need surgery to make it better,” he said. “Right after the season.”

Lakers officials, however, want Brown to re-evaluate his situation after the season before going under the knife, a team spokesman said.

“There’s not a whole lot of therapy that can take care of the needs that he’s got or the position he’s in,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “But we believe that he can make it through the year.”

Brown missed 27 games because of a severely sprained ankle after landing on the foot of Philadelphia guard Andre Miller in a Dec. 31 game. He said the injury also irritated some bones spurs he had accrued over the years.

He had played 13 games with the discomfort before Tuesday, although lately he had stood back while forward Lamar Odom stepped into the circle for the jump ball to start games.

Brown was averaging 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds since returning from the injury. He has seemed rushed in many of his shots, committed five turnovers Sunday against Golden State and is shooting 46.4% from the free-throw line.

“I can’t be as aggressive as I want to be because I don’t want to hurt my foot any more than it already is,” he said.

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Maurice Evans missed his fourth game because of a sore right knee that has twice been drained of fluid.

“We gave him a little workout the other day and it wasn’t any better, so he’s sitting it out for a little bit,” Jackson said. “It might be another few games before he’s back.”

With Evans out, Sasha Vujacic has been getting more time.

“Sasha will have to make some shots,” Jackson said. “We’ll just have to use Sasha.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com