In a déjà vu headline, Andrew Bynum is injured and may miss the rest of the regular season for the Lakers. Reports say it’s a torn MCL. He’s expected to miss 8-12 weeks. The Lakers have approximately 10 weeks left in the season.

This is eerily similar to last year when Bynum went down with a subluxation of his left kneecap and bone bruise in January. Then, as now, he was originally expected to miss eight weeks. Those who follow the Lakers know that those eight weeks turned into the rest of the season last year.

I’m among the Laker fans who believed Bynum would be the difference between last year’s runner-up finish and a championship. And just recently, a healthy Bynum seemed to be coming into his own, scoring a career-high 42 against the Clippers last month. He was also giving them the added toughness inside that they clearly lacked against the Celtics in the Finals.

The Lakers currently possess the best record in the West, and showed last year that they can hang with anyone in the conference playing Gasol at center and Odom at power forward. However, the odds of them keeping pace with the beasts of the East (Boston, Cleveland and Orlando) now seem slim. They’ll likely not have home court advantage in the Finals, assuming they can get back there.

Who knows, maybe Bynum does make it back in eight or 10 weeks this time, in time for a playoff run. I don’t want to be too doom-and-gloomy here. But this is a tough pill to swallow.

First and foremost, you have to feel for Bynum. Mentally bouncing back from another injury may be more of a hurdle than the physical rehab.

As for the rest of the team, they’ll immediately be put to the test. The rest of the teams in the West certainly now see a much more open conference. Will the Lakers fade? They’re in the midst of a six-game road trip that finishes with games at Boston on Thursday and at Cleveland on Sunday. Both of those games were going to be tough at full strength. The Lakers will now be tested even more.

Mike and I will surely talk more about this on tomorrow’s Winning Hand Sportscast. Right now, I’m just struggling to get past my initial reaction: it sucks big time.