It's looking at the very least possible that timing is going to be an ally of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The team that has been rolling through most of 2008 is on the verge of getting its ex-factor back.
As reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:
Andrew Bynum might make his highly anticipated return in a home game Sunday against San Antonio, Coach Phil Jackson said.
"There's a chance," Jackson said. "It would have to be under a situation in which he could practice on Saturday in a way that would convince me to play him on Sunday. Right now, we're certainly not counting on that. It's just really a longshot."
Bynum will need to show he can move well "in traffic" at practice, Jackson said. The next morning will also be important in determining how Bynum's knee reacts to a full practice.
The potential impacts here are nothing short of enormous.
Getting Bynum back for this last week of the regular season would be about as good as it gets for the Lakers. There is no need to have him play in too many meaningless regular season games, but getting him re-integrated with what is a very different team from the one he left is an absolute must. Some had even speculated that they could be better off with Bynum not coming back at all than returning in the midst of the playoffs because of the re-acclimation issue. Although I'm not entirely sure how on point that insinuation is, I understand where it comes from.
The Lakers as currently constructed are a very dangerous team. The Lakers with Bynum's presence against the likes of Tim Duncan, Shaq, Amare, Utah's bigs and the rest of the West could be unbelievably difficult to beat.
If Phil Jackson can get the young stud center back into the swing of things by the time next weekend rolls around, the rest of the conference is in big, big trouble.