The lengthy absence of Lakers center Andrew Bynum is starting to take a toll on fellow a big men Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

Gasol is averaging 38.7 minutes per game after averaging 37.0 last season. Odom is at 34.6 minutes per game after averaging 31.5 last season.

"We're playing Pau too many minutes [and we] don't have a backup for either he or Lamar right now, so that's a real problem," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said.

"We put all our eggs in the basket of Andrew coming back and we hoped he'd be back by this time, by Nov. 15, by Thanksgiving time, by [our last] road trip, etc. We don't know when Andrew is coming back."

Bynum participated in his first full-contact workout on Saturday since his July 28 operation and said he hopes to return to the court in three weeks.

"We hoped that it would have been three weeks about three weeks ago," Jackson said.

"So we're just waiting until everything kind of gets together and he gets on the court, and then we'll see what happens when he's on the court and practicing with us, and then we'll know approximately whether it's a week or two weeks or whatever away."