Kobe Bryant said his father told the Lakers he believes Bryant was vaccinated against chickenpox as a youth, which helped allay some fears that the Lakers’ star might have contracted the virus from teammate Steve Blake, who is out indefinitely with it.

Bryant also joked about putting on makeup to hide it if he did have chickenpox so he could continue to play.

“If I had it, I wouldn’t tell y’all (expletive),” Bryant said to reporters.

Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest told the Lakers they had not previously had chickenpox.