Chris Kaman hurts finger while tobogganing at Great Wall of China

BEIJING -- The Lakers have experienced Kobe Bryant’s torn Achilles’ tendon, Pau Gasol’s knee problems and Steve Nash’s broken leg over the last year.

Now there’s the tobogganing injury sustained by Chris Kaman at the Great Wall of China.

One of his fingers was squashed while he was sledding down a slippery concrete track after trekking along the wall for two hours Sunday with Lakers teammates and staffers.

His sled, essentially a wheeled cart with a brake, was rammed from behind by teammate Shawne Williams. Kaman instinctively put out his hand as he saw Williams careening toward him and, well, ouch.

Visitors to the Mutianyu portion of the wall take a gondola or cable car to the top of a hill where the wall is located. They can return the same way or take the toboggan down.

“I didn’t hit the brake the whole time. Guys on the edge were yelling ‘Slow down’ and I just kept going,� Kaman said. “All of a sudden I catch up to this guy close to the bottom, so now I have to brake. Shawne Williams comes behind me without hitting his brake at all and just smashed right into me.�

Williams was going 20-25 mph hour and Kaman was going only about 3 mph at the time of the collision, Kaman said.

“My hand smashed right between the two sleds. I didn’t feel the end of my finger for, like, an hour,� Kaman said, extending a bandaged, swollen middle finger. “It’s starting to throb a little right now.�

Will he play Tuesday against Golden State in an exhibition here?

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,� he said.

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Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan