Kobe Bryant has admitted that the prospect of facing another three weeks on the sidelines has left him feeling "down".

The Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard fractured his knee last month, and will not be ready to return until after February's All-Star game.

The 35-year-old told the Los Angeles Times: "I'm ready to throw the bike in the damn pool right about now. But you do what you got to do.

"[I'm] down about it. It's like an internal swelling. It's different. It's not something that's kind of on the surface where you can pinpoint and feel the swelling around. It's deep in there."

Bryant has featured in just six games for the Lakers this season, having missed the start of the campaign while continuing his recovery from an Achilles injury.