The one player on the Los Angeles Lakers that has been surrounded by controversy lately has been All-Star center Andrew Bynum. Ever since Bynum launched an ill-advised three-pointer against the Golden State Warriors and was immediately benched for the boneheaded move, the up-and-coming center has started to become a big problem for the Lakers.

Apparently, these problems with Bynum have been ongoing for quite some time and have been kept in-house to avoid the media frenzy in Los Angeles. It was a smart move by the Lakers to avoid letting the supposed “numerous infractions” involving Bynum public, but now it appears that the flood gates have opened with the All-Star center’s actions becoming a big distraction.

With the benching just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Andrew Bynum playing by his own rules, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak spoke about the Lakers center’s future in Los Angeles via Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times:

“Sometimes with young players I get disappointed and sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Tuesday in an interview with The Times. “Andrew continues to have a mix of good moments and maybe not-so-good moments. But he’s very bright, a really intelligent kid.” Kupchak said he “absolutely” envisioned Bynum with the Lakers down the road. “Despite some of the events of the last week or two, nothing has changed about our forward approach with Andrew,” Kupchak said.

Even though it is hard to take the word of any GM in professional sports these days, Kupchak does seem sincere about keeping Bynum in Los Angeles for the long haul. It remains to be seen whether or not the 24-year-old will show some maturity and not alter the mindset of the Lakers’ front office moving forward with his actions in the near future.

There is no question at this point Andrew Bynum is quickly becoming one of the best big men in the league and might only be scratching the surface of what he might be capable of as a potential perennial All-Star. Despite that being the case, Bynum definitely needs to get it together and buy into the team concept instead playing and acting like a spoiled kid who doesn’t like being told what to do.