Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis suffered a mid-foot sprain in the team’s final game before the All-Star break. After his initial MRI and X-ray, Frank Vogel and the Lakers announced that he would be re-evaluated in four weeks.
It has been eight days since that original projection, and thanks to the All-Star break, Davis did not miss a single game in that time. But with the Lakers returning to action on Friday, now begins a period of at least three weeks where Davis will not be in the lineup.
Vogel gave a brief update on Davis a week removed from a gruesome foot injury after Thursday’s practice.
“He was here today. Moving around gingerly without crutches, but obviously it’s gonna be a long road for him.”
Vogel’s long road comment certainly sounds as though it’s going to be more than three weeks. However, he refused to go further into detail when discussing Davis’ mindset surrounding the injury. “I don’t want to expose too much of the personal conversations, but he wants to be on the floor with his teammates and it’s disappointing any time you can’t. So I don’t want to say anything deeper than that, but that’s where it’s at.”
If the best-case scenario comes true and Davis is out only four weeks, he would miss the Lakers’ next 11 games. With the Lakers floating in the middle of the Play-In Tournament, more than 11 games without their star big man could be trouble.
But it appears that by Vogel’s brief comments, this may be more serious than just a few weeks out of the lineup. The Lakers have just over six weeks and 24 games remaining in their season. Hopefully, they can get Davis back before the games become true must-wins.
For now, it will be up to LeBron James and Russell Westbrook to figure out a way to get productive basketball out of their team for a long period of time. They caught a glimpse of something positive in their win against the Utah Jazz, meaning there may be a way to cobble together some big wins.
Vogel: Lakers committed to stretch run
Vogel recognized that the Lakers season has not gone according to plan. But he remains confident that the team will band together — even without Davis — to make something positive happen in the final weeks.
“We’re not where we want to be in the standings but we’re committed to this stretch run and the key with all of the playoff participants is to be playing your best basketball and peaking at the right time and that opportunity is still well within reach. We got to use these last 24 games to achieve that,” Vogel said after Thursday’s practice.
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