EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Kobe Bryant could be sidelined up to a month with a strained right shoulder, the same injury that sidelined the Lakers guard for six games season.

``We tried to be optimistic, but it looks like he could be out for a while,'' Los Angles coach Phil Jackson said Saturday after practice.

``He was optimistic when he came in this morning, which is a very good sign,'' Jackson said. ``He felt that he would be back in a few games, so he thought it was nothing like the last time when he had to sit out.''

Bryant hurt the shoulder again when he was trying to fight through a pick and banged into Reggie Evans 54 seconds after tip-off in Friday's 99-91 victory over Seattle.

Bryant, the Lakers' leading scorer at 22.4 points a game, had surgery on the shoulder in the offseason to repair torn tissue. This time, he left the arena after he was hurt and went to a hospital for an MRI. Dr. Steve Lombardo diagnosed the injury as a sprained acromio-clavicular joint.

Bryant's injury comes as Karl Malone is close to returning after being on the injured list for the first time in his career. Malone has been out since Dec. 21 with a torn ligament in his right knee.