Lakers coach Phil Jackson says he could limit Andrew Bynum's minutes significantly if he is bothered by a knee injury for the four straight season.

Los Angeles could turn him essentially into a role player over the long-term if it will preserve his health.

Jackson hopes that they'll avoid such a scenario this season, but it's a possibility if he suffers another knee injury.

"We're hopeful that this is the time he's able to start playing consistently through a season," Jackson said.

"If not, we're going to have to look at Andrew as a short-minute guy, somebody like Yao Ming who's going to be limited in the amount of minutes he plays."

Yao will be limited to 24 minutes a game for Houston this season and will sometimes miss the second game of back-to-backs.

"If his knee doesn't hold up after having this process, then we'll have to think about what kind of minutes he can play in a career," Jackson said.

"This would be a [fourth] consecutive year that things didn't go well. We're concerned. That's why we're giving this extra time, or the doctors asked for extra time for this to heal, so when this heals, his career can go forward instead of having these stops in the middle of the season."