Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]Andrew Bynum, who was schedule to begin playing for the Philadelphia 7ers this month around the All-Star break, is now unsure of that happening and doesn’t even know when he’ll return to action due to experiencing pain after working out for two straight days. Bynum said the pain he felt in his left knee was unlike anything he’s ever felt before.
“I think I worked well for two days on the court and then I got a lot of pain,” Bynum told USA TODAY, “so we backed down a little bit today. I’ll probably go on (the anti-gravity treadmill) tomorrow.”
“I don’t know what it is. It’s not anything that I haven’t felt, so it’s not new. And it continues to kind of go away over time, so it’s all good stuff. No swelling.”
The 25-year-old, since being acquired by the 76ers on the blockbuster deal that included Dwight Howard going to the Lakers and Andre Iguodala going to the Nuggets back in August, has had multiple setbacks and hasn’t debuted or even practice with the team.
Bynum was diagnosed with a bone bruise and a damaged cartilage in his right knee in September, and in November he had a setback because his knee started to swell after he went bowling. Like mentioned earlier, Bynum had February as the target date to make his return, and now it’s unlikely that he’ll play this month at all.
The last time Bynum saw the floor was in the 2012 NBA Playoffs in which the Lakers lost in the second round in five games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That was last May.
The former Lakers center will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. In seven seasons in the NBA, he has averaged 11.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Last year, Bynum played in 60 of the 66 games in the lockout season. The Sixers are currently in the ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 22-28 record.
