HoopsHype.com Rumors

Mike Trudell: Mad Dog will have a chance to say hi to @Kobe Bryant, who's on site rehabilitating his Achilles with Gary Vitti/Dr. Judy Seto. Twitter @LakersReporter

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Mark Madsen, Gary Vitti 

Eric Pincus: FWIW - Kobe contacted Gary Vitti who got Pau on the phone while Gasol was getting some halftime treatment - sounds like that's the timeline Twitter @EricPincus

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Gary Vitti 

Vitti agreed that every minute on the court would lead to an increased chance of injury. However, he shot down speculation about the impact of Bryant's increasingly heavy workload. "To say that he was injured because he played 48 minutes a game the last however-many games I think is a stretch," Vitti said. "Lots of guys rupture their Achilles' tendons and don't play 48 minutes. To make that correlation I don't think is fair." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Mike Trudell: Gary Vitti on Kobe's MRI: "There are no good Achilles tendon ruptures. Third-degree rupture. It’s gone. It has to be sewn back together." Twitter @LakersReporter

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Dave McMenamin: Kobe will have surgery today at 1 p.m. to repair his fully ruptured Achilles tendon. Trainer Gary Vitti says 6-9 month recovery Twitter @mcten

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Eric Pincus: 3rd degree rupture - it's totally gone - Gary Vitti Twitter @EricPincus

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Ken Berger: Kobe Bryant's surgery is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. "It's a third-degree tear. It's gone. Completely torn," said trainer Gary Vitti. Twitter @KBergCBS

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Dave McMenamin: Will Kobe be ready for the season opener next season? Lakers trainer Gary Vitti: "That's the plan" Twitter @mcten

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Mike Trudell: Dwight Howard was evaluated by head athletic trainer Gary Vitti today. He has a sore right shoulder & will be listed as “day to day.” Twitter @LakersReporter

Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Gasol will visit neurologist Dr. Vern Williams this morning, his seventh visit since suffering the concussion. Gasol made incremental progress Wednesday by participating in a series of three-on-three drills. He also revealed he talked with Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni and trainer Gary Vitti about coming off the bench to ease his way back into the lineup after missing the past five games. "I would always like to start," said Gasol, who's averaging a career-low 12.2 points on 41.6 percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds. "But that's not the best thing right now." Long Beach Press-Telegram

Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol, Mike D'Antoni, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown thinks it's possible Steve Nash will only be out a week because of the fracture to his left leg but that the team isn't putting pressure on him to rush back. "You obviously hope he's back as soon as possible," Brown said Sunday after the team's shootaround. "But the one thing you don't want to do, you don't want to compromise his long-term health for him coming back quicker than he should. So, (trainer) Gary Vitti and the staff are on top of it. We'll just wait and play it out from there." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Steve Nash, Mike Brown, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

Bryant was re-evaluated by team trainer Gary Vitti and the rest of the medical staff over the weekend, including undergoing a MRI, according to Coach Mike Brown. “We’ll see how he is (Monday) and what he cannot do or can do out on the floor and then kind of go from there,” Brown said. “He’s definitely making progress,” Brown said. “He’s not going backwards at all and it’s not like he’s staying the same. He’s making progress.” Orange County Register

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Mike Brown, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

MT: Andrew suggested that he will go see Dr. Peter Wehling in Germany that performed a procedure (called Orthokine or Regenokine) on Kobe's knee last offseason? Gary Vitti: I've already spoken to the doctor in Germany regarding Andrew going through the same procedure as Kobe did. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

MT: And will Kobe go back to see the Dr. again? Perhaps after the Olympics in London? Vitti: Yes. He could even do it while he's playing. I'm not sure if he's going to go before, during or after, but he says it helped doing it last offseason. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Injuries, Gary Vitti 

That morning, Dunleavy -- who'd finally gotten Rosen to tell him a few days before, adding him to a strict circle that also included West and longtime athletic trainer Gary Vitti -- was beginning practice. "He's trying to keep it under wraps, and we're at practice at Loyola Marymount," Dunleavy said. "They call me and say, 'Stop practice. Send everybody to The Forum, right now. Don't let them take showers.' But then, some guys were going over in their cars and they were starting to hear things on the radio... "We go into our locker room (at the Great Western Forum), and Earvin comes in and he tells the players. I cannot tell you how emotional that was. Every one of us, we're all thinking, Earvin's going to be dead in two years. He's going to wither away. Here's this guy we love, and you're just thinking the worst. Tears were just flowing. And then he goes upstairs and gives this press conference, and he's like, 'Ah, I'm going to beat this thing.' " NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, Gary Vitti 

MT: You had figured out that Magic had acquired HIV? Gary Vitti: Well, I knew that he’d taken an extensive physical exam for his life insurance policy, because I had to fill out some of the paperwork. I knew they did a lot of tests, and one of them was an HIV screening. So I figured, that’s got to be it. He either has cancer or he has HIV It took me a while, a whole day of thinking about it, but I couldn’t let it go. MT: You’re racking your brain trying to come up with something, anything else? Some other explanation? Vitti: Yes, I was trying not to really believe it, and I was holding out hope that it was something else. And so we leave Utah and go to Vancouver, and I get a call at the crack of dawn from the team doctor, Dr. Mellman. I say, ‘Mickey, I figured it out, you don’t have to tell me … Magic’s HIV positive.’ (Editor’s note: Vitti pauses, fighting tears, for about 10 seconds.) Mickey said, ‘Yeah, I knew you’d figure it out. Nobody knows, but Magic wanted you to know.’ I’ve told this story many times, but it still gets me. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, Gary Vitti 

MT: How many people knew about Magic’s condition at this point? Vitti: At the time, only seven people knew: Dr. Mellman, Magic, Magic’s wife Cookie, (agent) Lon Rosen, Jerry West, Dr. Jerry Buss and me. It was really new territory, and we didn’t know what to do. There were legal ramifications, and many things that needed to be discussed, including another test to make sure it wasn’t a false positive, even though that was unlikely. We had to stall to get another test done, and it went about two weeks with only those seven people knowing. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Jerry Buss, Gary Vitti 

MT: I’m going to stop you there if I can. What was Magic’s demeanor like when you met him that day? How was he doing? Vitti: I can tell you exactly what he said to me. I asked if he was OK, because, I said, ‘I’m a wreck.’ He said to me: ‘God gave me this disease, and he gave it to the right guy. I’m going to beat this, and do something really good with it.’ And he has. That was his attitude. It gave me strength, which is what I was supposed to give him, but I didn’t. He did. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, Gary Vitti 

MT: Wow. OK, let’s get back to how you were dealing with the issue before it became public: Vitti: We went those two weeks, and eventually Magic decided to retire and we had to make an announcement. The team was flying out on a Thursday, and Lon called me on Tuesday to share that Magic wanted me to get a room at the airport, get all the players and coaches in the room when they show up for the flight, and he was going to address the team and tell them the news. We’re all going to get on a plane and fly to wherever we’re flying to, and Magic was going to go back to the Forum for a press conference to tell the world. We were supposed be on a plane so the players weren’t going to be approached by the press right after the found out. That was the plan. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, Gary Vitti 

Vitty: But when we were at practice on Wednesday, I got a call from Jerry West. He said, ‘Get everybody out of practice right now. There’s been a leak, and the press is all on its way to Loyola. Get the players out of there, tell them not to talk to anybody or say a word. I don’t care what they have to do, tell them to cancel their plans and get to the Forum.’ So that’s what I did. I ran into the gym, called Mike Dunleavy over, and told him what was going on. The players still didn’t know, and some said that they had plans. I said, ‘Cancel your plans. Today is going to change your life.’ And it did. It changed all of our lives. So everybody gets in cars and leaves, and you can see as we’re driving out, a parade of media members are driving in. We’re passing them. NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Jerry West, Mike Dunleavy, Magic Johnson, Gary Vitti