"Doctor, how's it going?" Jerry West is at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center with O'Neal's agent, Rogers, waiting for the doctor's diagnosis of O'Neal.

It's been 57 days, nearly two months, since O'Neal left the game on January 26 due to injury in a SuperSonic. Nearly one-third of the regular season did not play.

The Lakers management's approach to O'Neal's injury is - a small injury and a big recuperation! He must recover slowly until O'Neal is completely injury-free and confirmed by the team doctor and the nation's top sports rehabilitation experts that O'Neal is 100% healthy before he can return to the court.

And this day seems to be getting closer and closer.

"MRI, the structural damage has completely healed." The white-coat expert with golden eyes and a cold tone made West and Rogers slowly exhale a breath of turbid air that pressed on their hearts.

The big diesel engine Shaq, it seems that it will not be long before he can return to the field.

"Does that mean Shaq can play?" Rogers asked.

"Of course not! Now he has not participated in basketball training for nearly 2 months, he needs to start with off-ball training, then training with the ball, 3v3, half-court 5v5, full-court 5v5, and then training with the team. This process will take about 10-15 days, and if there are no problems in between, you can return to the field in 100% health. The doctor glanced at Rogers in astonishment, as if to marvel at his ignorance. This is a quadriceps torn muscle, and the injury just happened to be a direct professional fight?

"Understood, doctor. We're going to get Shaq back to winning form in the competition. "West understands the process. Although 90% of the injuries in the current American professional basketball team do not follow this process, this is one of the reasons why a large number of talented players have been injured and suddenly fallen. The Magic certainly haven't followed this process so far, and their starting five have all missed at least 10 games this season, so they are a very young team and the chances of injury should be slim in theory. This season's injury wave is caused by not paying attention to the recovery of injuries, and the Magic may have more and more terrible injuries in the future.

"Mm-hmm, it's better to be on the safe side." Rogers also nodded, O'Neal is his cash cow, although he has signed a super contract of 120 million for 7 years, but who doesn't want to make more? Rogers is still counting on O'Neal's various commercial endorsement contracts, and if the injury really causes a decline, then his income on the advertising side will inevitably be greatly reduced.

West and his party returned to the team's office and arranged for the team doctor and assistant coach to arrange a proper recovery plan for O'Neal. Within 10-15 days, Shaq will be able to fully recover from the injury.

The second is the need to make Shaq lose fat, O'Neill has been in bed and on the couch for two months, and his weight has gained more than 10 pounds!

This weight gain will inevitably affect his performance, as well as increase the weight on his lower limbs, increasing his risk of injury. The team medic and trainers need to get Shaq back to normal.

The joint practice can only be practiced with the trainer for the time being, and the Lakers have had too many recent road games.

In 10-15 days, the season is in its final stages, and Shaq will come out to find his form, and then he can enter the playoffs.

West is looking forward to the OK combo shining at the Great Western Forum Arena again.

The Lakers without Shaq have always been at the top of the league, so what about when Shaq returns?

.......

After the Lakers lost Orlando City on March 23, the Lakers' overall record came to 60-8. On the other side, the Bulls' record came to 59-8 after beating the Pistons on March 22. The Lakers still sit on the top spot in the league, but there is almost no gap between them and the Bulls. Such a record difference is almost negligible, Michael Jordan's recent performance is completely turned on the supergod mode, and in the case of Jordan's early strength, the Bulls' triangle offense is simply impossible to defend.

The battle for the top spot in the league between the two sides may continue until the end of the season.

Both teams currently have a chance to win 70 wins!

If we continue to play like this this season, we may have two teams with 70 wins in the same season! That will be the heyday of professional basketball! The current best record in the history of the American professional basketball team is 72-10 for the Bulls in the 95-96 season, followed by the Lakers 69-13 in the 71-72 season, 68-13 for the 76ers in the 3rd 66-67 season, 68-14 for the Celtics in the 72-73 season, and 66-16 for the Bucks in the 70-71 season.

This season's Bulls and Lakers want to win 65 wins, and there is a very good chance of hitting 70 wins. In this era of the most brilliant American professional basketball, it is not surprising that there is a team with such a record, and now it is a battle of kings, but it is indeed a very rare thing for two teams to compete for 70 wins at the same time, which has not appeared in the long 50 years of American professional basketball, you must know that 66 wins can enter the top ten records in history. The current results of both teams have simply spooked a large number of media commentators.

There are two teams, one led by a 34-year-old veteran and the other led by an 18-year-old rising star. Neither of them is at the top! Two superstar-level defenders who were completely staggered in their prime, were able to lead the team to such heights!

These are all surprising.

On the Orlando to New Jersey flight, the Lakers' players were a little demoralized.

Back-to-back away games, continuous round-trips from the east to the west of the United States. Coupled with the recent back-to-back faces against strong opponents and the recent loss to the Orlando Magic led by Penny Hardaway, these have left the Lakers' players a little exhausted.

Kobe Bryant looked around and shook his head, even the little fish who was usually the most active on the plane, and the chattering yin-yang man Campbell were silent. At the end of the long season, the young Lakers have indeed entered a burnout period.

Kobe Bryant received the information that O'Neal can play in 10-15 days, and the Lakers' competitive state may not be too good in this half month. Kobe Bryant is ready for the Lakers to play the Nets in New Jersey and then return home against the Bucks. Then there were two more away games against the Grizzlies and SuperSonics, followed by three home games and a return to Los Angeles against the Nuggets Spurs Mavericks.

In three games at home, O'Neill has a good chance of returning. In the previous four games, the Lakers were very difficult to play. From the last game, it was clear that the Lakers players' competitive form has hit rock bottom, and Kobe Bryant needs to recover them from their low form.

Waiting for O'Neal to return is not all right, O'Neal's competitive form, the change in the team's tactical system. Kobe's offensive role after O'Neal's return will affect the team's record and performance.

The battle for the first place in the alliance is really full of unknowns.