other physicians, the Lakers decided that the problem, which was cleared by doctors in both France and the NBA's pre-Draft camp, was serious enough to require surgery. The Lakers were forced to void Turiaf's contract but retained his rights in case he was cleared to play again after the surgery. In addition, the team paid for all the expenses from the surgery. Turiaf underwent the six-hour open-heart surgery on 26 July 2005. His expected recovery time was between six and twelve months. As part of his rehabilitation, Turiaf signed with the Continental Basketball Association's Yakama Sun Kings, a team that drafted him with their 36th pick in the 2005 CBA draft. He played 9 games with the Sun Kings, averaging 13 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Turiaf recovered from his surgery quicker than expected and was therefore re-signed with the Lakers on 17 January 2006, less than six months after his surgery. In order to make room on the team's 15-man roster, the Lakers waived guard Laron Profit after his season-ending injury. 2006–07 season On 1 November 2006, in the second game of the season, Ronny Turiaf scored career highs in almost every category against the Golden State Warriors, including 8/10 shooting with 23 points and 14 rebounds. 2007–08 season Ronny Turiaf received playing time due to the many Laker injuries during the 2007–08 season. He was in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season as a forward alongside Lamar Odom, but after spraining his left ankle during practice on 15 November 2007, Turiaf missed two games of his own while his starts became limited. However, after Pau Gasol sprained his ankle on 14 March 2008 in New Orleans, Ronny took over as the starting center for nine games until Gasol returned on April 2. In that nine game span, Turiaf's stats jumped to over 30 minutes per game with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Yet the Lakers went 5–4 during those nine games, including back-to-back losses at home against the Charlotte Bobcats and the Memphis Grizzlies, two of the league's worst teams. Turiaf and the Lakers would reach the 2008 NBA Finals, but they would lose in six games to their arch rivals Boston Celtics. During his time with the Lakers, Turiaf developed a close friendship with teammate Kobe Bryant. Bryant expressed sadness upon Turiaf's departure from the Lakers and would later say that