Bryant to sit out tonight

Kobe Bryant was nowhere to be seen Thursday at the Lakers’ training facility.

He had a medical excuse, though.

He received X-rays on a sore right wrist and went home afterward. The X-rays were negative, but he will not play tonight in the Lakers’ exhibition finale against Sacramento in Las Vegas.

He is expected to practice Saturday.

Bryant was injured in an exhibition Tuesday when Utah center Mehmet Okur struck him, Bryant later saying that Okur was “doing that European move where you stick your leg out when you take the shot and try to draw the foul. It came down on my wrist the wrong way.”

Will he play Tuesday against Houston, when the games start to count?

“Yeah, I anticipate it,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

Bryant was bothered by a sore knee last week that contributed to his missing three days of practice. His wrist was sore enough to require X-rays, but Jackson didn’t seem overly concerned.

“I talked to him a little bit after practice [Wednesday] and he was complaining a little bit about it, but he said he thought it was going to be OK,” Jackson said. “[Thursday], it was a little bit stiff and we thought it would be a good opportunity to just let him stay at home . . . and let them play without him and see how they do.”

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