Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni has insisted that Kobe Bryant is still a long way from making a competitive return from injury.
Bryant trained with his teammates on Saturday for the first time since tearing his Achilles tendon seven months ago, but D'Antoni believes that it was just the first step of many.
"You're dealing with, 'Is he sore today? Is there a setback tomorrow? How can he go?'" the Lakers coach told reporters. "That's the first step and there's a lot of steps to be taken. So, I just think we need to be cautious. We best just be cool and chill out a little bit."
"It's just going to be a process to get him back. He's a presence, no doubt, and we need that presence, especially at the end of games.
"But again, we got games to win and there's going to be a bunch of them before he comes back, so we're going to have to do our business."
The Lakers have lost seven of their 12 games this season without Bryant.
Callum Mulvihill
