Kobe Bryant and Wesley Johnson’s status unclear for Sunday

"The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant #24 reacts after fouling the Grizzlies’  Mike Conley #11 late in the 4th quarter during their NBA game at the Staples Center Friday, January 2, 2015.  The Grizzlies beat the Lakers 109-106. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)"

“The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant #24 reacts after fouling the Grizzlies’ Mike Conley #11 late in the 4th quarter during their NBA game at the Staples Center Friday, January 2, 2015. The Grizzlies beat the Lakers 109-106. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)”

Coming out of Saturday’s morning short practice, Kobe Bryant’s status for Sunday’s game against Portland was still unknown.

Bryant sat out Friday’s game against Orlando, which the Lakers won 101-84. Head coach Byron Scott tabbed the absence as “just rest” on Friday and would not state if the veteran would be playing Sunday until talking to his star player over the next 48 hours.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll talk to him today and see how he feels. When he comes in tomorrow we will see how he feels.,” said Scott. “And when he comes in for the game we will see how he feels and we will go from there.”

Bryant’s rest day came off the heels of Wednesday’s four-point outing on 2-for-12 shooting in a blowout loss to the Clippers. So far this season Bryant has missed five games and is averaging 23.0 ppg, 5.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds.

He did not practice Saturday and is listed in the games notes as questionable.

While Bryant did not practice, the Lakers did welcome back Wesley Johnson to practice Saturday morning. It was a happy sight since the fourth-year veteran has missed the last three games with a right hip flexor.

But despite practicing, Scott said Johnson’s status for Sunday was unclear.

“He was good today. He moved a little gingerly in the beginning, but I think as he got warmed up he started moving a little bit better,” said Scott. “The biggest test is how he feels tomorrow morning when he wakes up. If at shoot around he says he feels good or a little sore hopefully we can get him loosened up again and get him ready for Sunday’s game.

“Right now it’s probably still 50/50,” added Scott, “but from what I saw today he looked pretty good.”

Game notes have Johnson listed as probable.

Johnson has played in 34 games this season, starting all of them and averaging 9.4 points per contest and 3.7 rebounds a game.

Johnson has dealt with inconsistency this season, but was getting better before the injury put a halt to the momentum.

“I thought he was steadily improving. It took him a little while offensively to understand what we were doing. He got off to a slow start. Last 10-15 games, I was extremely pleased with the way he was playing offensively and defensively,” said Scott earlier in the week. “Obviously his injury comes at a bad time for him. I thought he was starting to get a good rhythm. Confidence wise it was there. I was very pleased with the way Wesley was playing.”