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Anthony Davis just injured his foot against the Denver Nuggets and has been taken out. The LA Lakers have confirmed that he is not returning tonight to finish the game.
Davis appeared to injure his right foot in the first quarter but seemed to shake it off and continue to play. However, he didn't come out of the locker room after the halftime break.
Anthony Davis played just 17 minutes and ended his night with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists. Thomas Bryant started in AD's place for the Lakers at the start of the second half.
LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are expected to carry the Lakers without the superstar big man.
Davis’ play since last month has given the Laker Nation hope that the purple and gold can somehow make a legitimate push for the playoffs. He has been playing so well that his name has entered MVP conversations of late.
With the 2020 NBA champ playing elite basketball, the Lakers have naturally allowed LeBron James to naturally play second fiddle to AD. They’ve proven to be successful this season if they have kept to that strategy.
But with Anthony Davis now injured again, the LA Lakers will be desperately looking for ways to compete. When AD is out or when he’s disengaged, they’ve been nowhere near a playoff-worthy team.
Head coach Darwin Ham has confirmed that Anthony Davis is being evaluated by LA Lakers' medical team right now and will be further evaluated tomorrow. They could simply be just being extremely cautious with the eight-time All-Star, which will be good news to the Laker faithful.
But if things are worse than how they initially looked, Darvin Ham will be forced to return to a strategy that didn’t work before. He could be forced to rehash a plan that miserably failed during Frank Vogel’s tenure last season.
Fans react to Anthony Davis’ latest injury
LA Lakers fans must be holding themselves back from doing something crazy with the latest injury to Anthony Davis. Basketball fanatics in general might also be just trolling the Lakers for their latest and almost expected misfortune with AD.
Regardless of the reason, Twitter lit up with reactions. Here are a few of them:
Whether Davis will be out for a few games, a few weeks, or a month, the Lakers are not in a good position. They’ve really just gotten better after they’ve consistently made the superstar big man the fulcrum of their offensive schemes.
Without him, they will have to rely on LeBron James and Russell Westbrook to do what they could not do last season.
The Lakers had their best success this season when AD was overwhelming opponents on both ends of the floor and when their shooting steadily improved. No team had an answer for Anthony Davis, not even the vaunted Milwaukee Bucks’ frontline of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.
Davis is now injured while the Lakers still don’t have the “lasers” that LeBron James admitted they didn’t have on their lineup.
Darvin Ham knows no one’s going to care about their predicament. They will just have to find ways to keep competing, hoping that their savior returns.
Guess the Lakers players!
