Kobe Bryant missed his initial targeted return date but the injured Los Angeles Lakers superstar could finally make his season debut against the Sacramento Kings on Friday.

Bryant, who originally said that he could return in the final week of November, will be re-evaluated in the upcoming Lakers practices to gauge whether or not he is ready to make his highly-awaited return from Achilles tendon injury on Friday.

The Lakers, who absorbed a 114-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, have no scheduled games from Monday to Thursday.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said that the team will have three practices in the coming days, during which Bryant will be evaluated by the team's medical staff.

"I don't want to anticipate anything," D'Antoni said in an ESPN interview. "Those are days that he can work and see, re-evaluate how he feels after the three days and then make a decision going forward. That doesn't mean he will play Friday, doesn't mean he won't. But that's the time you just evaluate, and I can't tell you what type of evaluation that will be."

Bryant participated in an unexpected practice on Saturday, which led to speculation that the superstar could make his debut against the Trail Blazers Sunday.

Bryant, who participated fully in all drills, did not play against Portland, but teammate Jodie Meeks believes that the 35-year-old shooting guard is ready to return soon, based on what he witnessed in their recent practices.

"He wasn't really rusty. I'm sure he's been getting a bunch of shots up," Meeks said. "When he comes back, we'll be happy to have him. He'll obviously make the game a lot easier for us."

Aside from Bryant, injured point guard Steve Nash could also make his return in the next few weeks.

D'Antoni said that Nash, who is recovering from nerve irritation on his back, is expected to return to Los Angeles after a week of rehabilitation in Canada. The 39-year-old veteran could return to practice this week after getting re-evaluated by team doctors.