The LA Times reports that Shaquille O'Neal returns as a full-time Laker today, when he is expected back from his grandmother's funeral in time for practice. He is expected to play Tuesday night at Staples Center against the Denver Nuggets, and thus resume a fractured season.

The question, then, is how long before O'Neal needs another day off? Another week? Already, Jackson has held O'Neal out of all or parts of practices, and still O'Neal gradually loses mobility and explosiveness.

O'Neal has considered surgery that doctors believe would free the first joint of his toe, but recovery takes three to four months, and so far no one has suggested he attempt it until after the season, if at all.

"We haven't got a feel for it yet," Jackson said. "We don't know the extent of what it's going to be. We don't know if it's going to be [aggravated] by overuse, which doesn't always have to be the same case with arthritis. I've got at least four viable cures: an herbal cure, a dietary cure, a liniment cure, and acupuncture still hasn't been used. I mean, we've got a lot of ways to go yet. "And we still have a voodoo doctor, a 1-800 (doctor), on channel TNT."

Physical therapist Alex McKechnie, who rehabbed O'Neal's abdominal strain three years ago, was in town last week, trying to work out the kinks in his arthritic right big toe.
"He was manipulating his joint, and Shaq was crying in pain. So this is good," Jackson said. "This is what we have to do. We have to keep it flexible and mobile. That has been the treatment."