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LA Lakers star big man Anthony Davis is expected to miss at least a month with a right foot injury. The news comes via a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
It has since been confirmed by additional reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
Davis’ injury occurred in the first half of LA’s 126-108 win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday. Davis did not return in the second half. He then underwent testing over the weekend to determine the severity of his injury.
Before LA’s game versus the Washington Wizards on Sunday, Lakers coach Darvin Ham implied that the team would be cautious with Davis’ rehab:
“The season is fairly early, and he just has to take care of his business, starting first and foremost with him getting back healthy.
“Injuries are a big part of our league and a part of major sports in general. Unfortunately, he’s had the injury history that he’s had, but there’s no time to cry over spilled mil."
As Ham mentioned, Anthony Davis has had an extensive injury history throughout his 11-year NBA career. He has only played at least 70 games in a season twice so far. Over the past two seasons in particular, Davis played in a total of just 76 games.
It appeared that Davis was finally getting healthy and ready for an MVP-caliber run as he had played in 25 of the Lakers’ first 28 games this season. Davis was also leading the team in scoring (27.4PPG), rebounding (12.1RPG), steals (1.3SPG) and blocks (2.1BPG), while shooting 59.3%. Unfortunately, for Lakers fans, Davis is once again looking at an extended absence.
Following their 119-117 win against Washington without Davis on Sunday night, LA is now 13-16 and 12th in the Western Conference. This includes them being 2-2 without Anthony Davis. However, moving forward, it may be difficult for the team to compensate for the lack of Davis’ elite two-way production.
Thomas Bryant on his increased opportunity following Anthony Davis’ foot injury
As for the primary beneficiary of Anthony Davis’ injury, that appears to be 25-year-old big man Thomas Bryant.
Bryant was averaging 8.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game over his first 13 games, while playing just 14.4 minutes per game. However, over the past two games, with Davis getting injured midway through the first, Bryant’s minutes have doubled to 28.2 minutes per game. Bryant is averaging 18.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game over that stretch, with LA winning both games.
After starting in Sunday’s win over Washington and converting on the game-winning dunk, Bryant spoke about his increased opportunity:
“You have to follow the lead and sometimes wait for your name to be called.
“It doesn’t change the fact that you have to be ready and stay ready and do what you can to make sure you’re in that mode in case something like this happens. I take pride in the preparation that I have."
Lakers star forward LeBron James also added that everybody on the roster has to be ready to step up when called upon.
“Whoever is available to play, we have to make plays,” James said.
“We’re all NBA players and we have to go out and trust the game plan the coaches put out there. Tonight, we were able to do that for the majority of the game."
Also read: How has Anthony Davis' age impacted his game as injuries have piled up?
