OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was a bit of an incongruent scene at the Los Angeles Lakers practice facility Thursday as coach Mike D'Antoni lamented his team's lack of any healthy point guards while Jordan Farmar simultaneously shot swish after swish on the court behind him.
While Steve Blake (elbow) will be out at least six weeks and Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) doesn't even have a timetable of when he could get back to game action, Farmar's return could be just around the corner.
"I think, I hope, I come back way ahead of schedule," Farmar told ESPNLosAngeles.com after shootaround in Oklahoma City on Friday.
Farmar has missed the Lakers' last three games after suffering a tear in his left hamstring against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 1. The 27-year-old guard received platelet rich plasma therapy on the tear and was initially expected to be out approximately four weeks, according to the team.
Farmar had his hamstring re-evaluated this week and the ultrasound showed "healing and improvement" according to the Lakers but still had "a ways to go." Farmar said Friday that he does not feel the tear at all any more when he goes through his rehabilitation exercises, but he has yet to push it through sprinting or other basketball activities at full speed.
Could he play during the Lakers road trip which includes four games in five nights through Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Atlanta and Memphis?
"I don't think they'll let me," Farmar said, adding that the team has to be smart and consider his health for the long term. "There's still 60 games left to the season, there's a lot of basketball to be played."
Farmar will be re-evaluated when the Lakers return to L.A. next week and if he is cleared to play, could be back in the lineup on Dec. 20 when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves, essentially missing three weeks (and seven games) with the injury instead of four weeks (and 12 games).
Farmar, who left more than $3 million on the table in Turkey to return to Los Angeles, is averaging 9.2 points and 4.4 assists on the season for the Lakers, improved numbers from the 7.2 points and 1.5 assists he averaged in his last season in L.A. in 2009-10.