The lower back issues that bothered Los Angeles Lakers star big man Anthony Davis in the preseason were exacerbated early this season when he landed directly on his back while going for a blocked shot. Davis remained in the game and continued to play until aggravating it in the Lakers’ first game against the Denver Nuggets.
This caused Davis to sit out the following game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he was back on the court in the Lakers’ Sunday night rematch with Denver. There was a moment late in the game when Davis again seemed to aggravate that back injury again, but he stayed in the contest.
After the game, the Lakers’ first win of the season, Davis admitted that his back is in pain.
“A pretty good amount,” Davis said when asked about how much pain he was in. “On the putback, it kind of just comes and goes, these little shocks that go. But at that point, you’re playing off adrenaline and so I know tonight, maybe into tomorrow, I’m probably gonna feel it more. But this is all manageable. Just trying to do what I can to make sure I’m on the floor to help the team.”
Davis pushed through the pain on Sunday in helping the Lakers get into the win column, finishing with 23 points and 15 rebounds and as he noted, it is more about pain management than anything else as he can’t make the injury worse.
As far as what he will do to manage that pain, Davis plans on sticking with the program.
“Keep doing what I’m doing,” the Lakers big man added. “It was killing me tonight but I tried to do whatever I could do to help the team get a win. So if that means fighting through it, we’re gonna fight through it. I got two days in between games to get it right for New Orleans on Wednesday but I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure we get it done.”
It will be interesting to see how Davis and the Lakers handle this back issue moving forward. At some point, they will have to find some time to really allow Davis to rest as he can not deal with this for the entirety of the season. But for the time being, Davis is willing to push through and it has not prevented him from performing at the level that is expected from him.
James says Davis must ‘do what’s best for his body’
LeBron James and the rest of the Lakers understand how important Davis is for the success of this team. But LeBron also knows that Davis taking care of his body in the midst of this back injury is what’s most important.
James recently noted that Davis has to “do what’s best for his body” in handling this back issue and despite wanting to play in every game, he needs to manage things and trust the staff to ensure he doesn’t put his body in any more type of danger.
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