Kobe Bryant has returned to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since tearing his Achilles.

Bryant suffered the Achilles injury last April.

Bryant has consistently been ahead of schedule in his rehab process.

Bryant said on Friday that he would be ready to play immediately for a playoff game.

"If there was a playoff game tonight, I'd play," said Bryant to NBA TV. "I'd play. I don't know how effective I'd be, but I would play

"The fadeaway still works, the ballhandling, being able to post. Those are things that I can do right now. But it's not the playoffs, thank god."

Bryant has avoided giving an exact date for his return.

"It's tough because once I've set that as a target then I'm hell-bent at doing it at all costs, even to the detriment of the damn Achilles," Bryant told NBA TV. "I try to just stay in the moment and really try to listen to my body. The biggest thing is I have not done anything athletically for six months, seven months. You got to get your body back in shape. And doing that, if I was healthy -- completely healthy -- you have that much time off and get back in shape and your knee is going to ache, your ankle is going to hurt, your back is going to be out. So you got to go through your progressions as you normally would over the course of a summer."