Andrew Bynum cruised down El Segundo Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon after another strenuous workout to rehabilitate his injured right knee, the top down on his BMW convertible.
A man in a pickup truck pulled beside Bynum's car, a stunned look on his face at seeing the Lakers' 7-foot center. His mouth opened just enough to utter encouragement to Bynum.
"Get that knee healthy," the fan yelled.
"Yes, sir!" Bynum said.
He eased on to a restaurant for lunch, parked his car, sat down and stretched out his long legs just before two female Lakers fans asked about the torn medial collateral ligament Bynum suffered Jan. 31 against the Memphis Grizzlies. They got an autograph and a picture before asking the question that has been on the minds of all Lakers fans.
"When are you coming back?" one asked.
"Two weeks," Bynum said, smiling. "Hopefully."
That question has been posed to Bynum "all day, every day." He has been training rigorously in an attempt to get back after missing the last 29 games.
"I smile at everybody and tell them I want to get back sooner than you all want me back," Bynum said in an exclusive interview with The Times. "Trust and believe me. All I do is play basketball and not to be able to do it, you just kind of feel out of place.
"I want to play before the playoffs. It'll be close. I'm looking to make the last couple of games."
A schedule was pulled out to see whom the Lakers play in their final two regular-season games before the playoffs start the weekend of April 17.
That game would be April 12 at Staples Center against the Memphis Grizzlies, the same team Bynum injured his right knee against in January. The same team Bynum injured his left knee against Jan. 13, 2008.
"That's crazy, right?" Bynum said, laughing.
Almost as crazy as this last weekend when Bynum was photographed with a Playboy bunny on his shoulders during a visit to the Playboy mansion.
"I got to meet Hugh Hefner. Who wouldn't want to go meet that dude?" Bynum said. "He talked about how much of a Lakers fan he is and how he is a friend of [Lakers owner] Dr. [Jerry] Buss.
"The picture obviously everybody is talking about, when I picked the Playmate up . . . I don't know. I just wanted to take a shot like that. I wasn't going to be a party-pooper about it."
The Lakers said they won't discipline Bynum, who mentioned that he didn't get any "grief" about his encounter.
