Bynum Will Miss Start of Training Camp Because He Couldn’t Miss World Cup

Surprise, surprise.  Lakers center Andrew Bynum has made a poor decision regarding an injury.  The same Bynum who was partying at the Playboy Mansion with Playmates on his shoulders while rehabbing his knee last year is going to miss the start of Lakers training camp.  Why?  Because he didn’t want to be uncomfortable watching the World Cup in South Africa and vacationing in Europe, of course.

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports, via Pro Basketball Talk, that Bynum opted to push back the date of his off-season knee surgery after the Lakers won the NBA Finals.  Just like he pushed it back so he could play in the playoffs, he pushed it back again so he could play on vacation.

Bynum put off having off-season surgery on his right knee so he could play – and we’re not talking about playing basketball. He could’ve repaired the knee immediately after last season, but he postponed it to travel – to see the soccer World Cup in South Africa and then vacation in Europe, as he had the previous summer.

Bynum didn’t want to be on crutches, which would’ve diminished all that fun stuff or required rescheduling. He even had the knee drained, just as he did repeatedly with much ado in the playoffs to keep playing, so he could keep pivoting around reasonably well as a sightseer.

Sounds like a player who finally has his priorities in line, doesn’t it?  The fact that this is a recurring theme for the big man has to be a concern for the Lakers.  You would think that a player with an elaborate injury history like Bynum’s — at such a young age — would take surgeries and rehab a bit more seriously.  Maybe that’s just the effect two championship rings can have on a 22-year-old.