Lakers will be traveling lighter after Odom injury

The Lakers’ charter flight left LAX Saturday afternoon without another key injured player, Lamar Odom staying behind after an MRI exam earlier in the day revealed a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Odom is out indefinitely and will not travel with the team for a four-game trip that starts today in Phoenix. He will see shoulder specialist Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles on Monday, at which point a timetable is expected to be attached to his return.

Odom, 27, sustained a torn labrum in the same shoulder in March 2005 and missed the Lakers’ last 17 games that season. He ultimately underwent surgery that required a four-month recovery period.

He was injured Friday after being fouled by Sacramento center Brad Miller while attempting a shot with 2:47 to play in the Lakers’ 116-108 loss.

The timing couldn’t be worse for the Lakers or Odom, who had finally shown signs of regaining his early-season form after 15 relatively quiet games since returning from a sprained right knee. He had 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists last Monday against Utah and 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists against Sacramento. He was not available for comment Saturday.

“I saw him this morning, and he looks pretty sore,” Kobe Bryant said.

The Lakers (33-26) have already weathered numerous injuries this season, but the absence of Odom comes as the schedule gets increasingly more important.

The Lakers are wedged in sixth place in the Western Conference, three games ahead of Denver and three games behind Houston. The regular season ends April 18.

Coach Phil Jackson, who has watched the injuries mount since the exhibition season, did his best to put on a positive spin.

“We’re still going to be fine,” he said.

“We’re still going to keep our head above water. We’re not drowning.”

They might, however, want to locate any nearby flotation devices.

Despite the slow comeback from his knee injury, Odom was averaging 16.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

Injuries and surgeries have been a theme of the Lakers’ season since training camp, when Jackson underwent hip-replacement surgery and Bryant recuperated from off-season knee surgery that forced him to sit out the first two regular-season games.

All told this season, Odom has missed 21 games, Kwame Brown has missed 34, Luke Walton 16, Vladimir Radmanovic five and Bryant three because of injuries. Chris Mihm has missed all 59 games because of ankle problems.

Walton will see an ankle specialist Monday in Los Angeles and will not play today against Phoenix.

He might rejoin the team later in the trip.

“Sometimes you need some luck to avoid these injuries,” Bryant said. “[Just] keep pushing forward.”

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Not all the injury news was bad for the Lakers.

Maurice Evans went through a light practice Saturday and probably will play today despite lingering soreness and swelling in his right knee.

Brown also felt fine after his first game back from a severely sprained ankle. Now he needs to work on getting into the flow of the offense. He barely looked at the basket whenever the ball was passed to him against Sacramento.

“There’s discomfort out there,” Jackson said. “He hasn’t been in enough practice or enough game situations to feel good.”

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TODAY

at Phoenix, 12:30 PST, Channel 7

Site -- US Airways Arena.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 33-26; Suns 45-14.

Record vs. Suns -- 1-0.

Update -- The Suns, with the second-best record in the NBA, recovered from a three-game losing streak by winning six of their last seven, including a 115-90 rout of Indiana on Friday. Suns forward Shawn Marion will play today after missing two games because of a bruised right hand, but forward Boris Diaw is expected to sit out because of back spasms.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com