GM Mitch Kupchak went to see center Andrew Bynum earlier this week in Atlanta to check on the center’s progress from knee surgery in June. So far, so good, according to a report in today’s edition of the Orange County Register. Bynum is running and lifting weights and performing basketball drills without pain. He expects to be 100 percent ready for training camp when it opens Sept. 30.
Bynum is eligible to receive a five-year, $80 million contract extension during the offseason, but Kupchak said earlier this summer that he would wait for a while to see how the 20-year-old rebounds from surgery. Bynum suffered a partially dislocated left kneecap when he landed on teammate Lamar Odom’s foot in a Jan. 13 game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Bynum missed the rest of the season.
If healthy, the Lakers expect him to be their starting center for 2008-09. Pau Gasol, who took over for Bynum after a Feb. 1 trade with Memphis, will move from center to power forward. Odom will slide from power forward to small forward.
All of which will give the Lakers one of the biggest, if not the biggest, starting front lines in the NBA, what with the 6-10 Odom playing alongside 7-footers Bynum and Gasol, which makes many courtside observers believe the Lakers will make a repeat trip to the NBA Finals next spring.