Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Times reports that Shaquille O'Neal woke up, stood up and walked away from surgery on his arthritic big toe.

Standing between buildings at UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Robert Mohr said surgeons encountered nothing unexpected in the 45-minute surgery that cleared bone spurs from the first joint of O'Neal's afflicted right toe. The range of motion in the joint improved immediately and significantly, Mohr said, and he predicted a recovery time of six to eight weeks.

"Everything went extremely well today," Mohr said. "Surgery went as scheduled, as planned. "Hopefully, with the passage of time, Mother Nature and active rehab, he should be back better than he was at the end of last season."

A six week recovery time would allow O'Neal to be ready a week before the regular season starts. An eith week recovery means that O'Neal would miss the first five games of the season.