Kobe Bryant medically cleared for all basketball activities

Kobe Bryant has been cleared for "all basketball activities", Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report broke the report, and Lakers reporter Mike Trudell confirmed it afterward. Bryant practiced with the team for the first time since tearing his Achilles on April 12 over the weekend after receiving full clearance. Return date? None listed yet. The team practices on Tuesday and an update should be expected, according to Trudell's article:

That appears to be left to him to decide. One can speculate that he wants to return as soon as possible, but not so soon as to put his body at any further risk. In short: stay tuned. With the team off on Monday, we should know more after he practices on Tuesday.

The Lakers have gone 5-7 without Bryant, scoring by committee. Jodie Meeks leads all Lakers with 13.7 points per game, followed by four more players (Nick Young, Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill) all averaging at least 10 points per game. Los Angeles' offense has struggled early, scoring just 100.6 points per 100 possessions, according to Basketball-Reference. That's 25th out of 30 teams.

It's clear the Lakers offense needs to find rhythm and consistency with how they're trying to score, which is an area Kobe would immediately contribute to once he's fully integrated. Considering he hasn't finished lower than 30 percent in usage rate since the 2003-2004 season the team will have someone to run the offense through.

Again, there's no return date, and the earliest he could return is Friday when the Golden State Warriors visit Staples Center. Expect another update on this in about 24 hours based on the Lakers' having practice Tuesday. Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report went into further detail on Kobe being cleared and made this important distinction:

Even with full clearance, though, Bryant is not expected to jump right back into game action Friday night against Golden State or even the next week of Thanksgiving. Bryant wants to test his ankle joint and see how it responds, which he will get to on an initial basis with full-scale team practices set for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The Lakers next play Friday and Sunday at home prior to a three-game road trip that begins in Washington on Nov. 26 and ends in Detroit on Nov. 29. The team returns home Dec. 1 to face the Portland Trail Blazers.

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