Wesley Johnson's hip injury not as bad as initially expected

When Wesley Johnson didn't travel with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, the team made it sound as if his absence would be best measured in weeks rather than days.

Johnson was injured on Sunday and stayed back in L.A. while the team went north so that he could undergo an MRI on his strained hip flexor. Head coach Byron Scott initially said the training staff wasn't optimistic about Johnson's timeline, but he reversed course Monday.

"Not as bad as we thought it could be," Scott said. "He could be back as early as the end of this week or early next week."

The Lakers play Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and it sounds as if a weekend return isn't out of the question. Wayne Ellington and Ryan Kelly started on the wings with Johnson and Kobe Bryant both sitting Monday, and it's unclear which player would remain with the starting unit when Bryant returns but Johnson continues to sit.

In 34 games before the injury, Johnson was averaging a career-high 9.4 points, adding 3.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks, while hitting on 37.7 percent of his 3-point attempts.