Andrew Bynum has decided to make his return from injury in the period right after the All-Star break.

There had been an increased hope that Bynum would make his debut before the break.

“I talked about that for a while,” said Bynum. “I think giving myself a full other week of training camp is going to be better than trying to come back before that. To me, it doesn’t really matter when I come back.”

Bynum could begin practicing as soon as Monday.

“He’s finishing up the last phase and then he’ll start to do more and more basketball-related activities and slowly build up to where he can get out there and practice 5-on-5 with the team,” Tony DiLeo said.

“The most critical part of his program is coming up. Once he gets out there in basketball action — against defenders, running, jumping, cutting — that’s a critical part to see how he reacts to that.”