Golden State Warriors’ backup center Kwame Brown will likely miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on a chest muscle Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Brown was injured in a game last week with the Miami Heat.

Brown will remain in southern California for rehab, the report states, and his recovery time is set at three months.

The former number one overall pick in 2001 is averaging 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds a game in his first season with the Warriors.

Andrew Bynum has had an absolutely dominant start for the Lakers this season, averaging 19.6 points, 15.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in his first five contests since returning from suspension. And the one guy taking credit for his emergence hasn’t been the guy you’d expect.

It’s not his coach, Mike Brown, and it’s not his captain, Kobe Bryant. No — it’s Kwame Brown, the guy who’s backing up Andris Biedrins in Golden State.

“That was my young fella,” Brown bragged to Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times. “I taught him everything he knows. I’m one of the better defenders in the league, and we played against each other every day in practice. I told him if you can score against me, you can score on anyone.”

Bynum was a Laker lottery pick in 2005; Brown was a four-year veteran at that point, already well on his way to one of the great draft-bust stories in NBA history. The former No. 1 pick played with Bynum for two and a half seasons before being shipped to Memphis in the infamous Pau Gasol trade.

“Kwame and I are friends,” Bynum said. “We used to talk about cars. We went bowling too.”