The Los Angeles Lakers’ early-season injury bug continued on their recent road trip when Anthony Davis went down with hip/adductor spasms in their loss to the Miami Heat.
Davis was confident after the game that he felt fine and wasn’t gonna miss any time although the organization decided to be cautious and sat him out of Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Houston Rockets.
It was just a one-game absence for Davis, however, as he was able to return on Friday night for the Lakers’ In-Season Tournament opener against the Phoenix Suns.
The Lakers were able to get their first road win of the season by coming back to beat the Suns, and Davis discussed how his hip was feeling in his return where he played 36 minutes, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It took some time to kind of get into the game just with the shots and stuff, kind of just trying not to aggravate it. But as the game kind of got going, I just stopped thinking about it and started playing. Felt it a couple times throughout the course of the game, but for the most part, it felt good.”
Davis didn’t look like himself early as he was struggled to get any burst or lift, perhaps hesitant to re-aggravate the injury.
As he said though, he got going as the night went on and eventually finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a block in the win.
The important thing here is that Davis was able to finish the night without any further injury. Now, he can continue to get treatment and recover even more before the Lakers take the court again on Sunday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers have been hit with a ton of injuries to begin the year so keeping Davis healthy and available will be essential moving forward, especially this early in the season.
James’ shin feeling sore after bumping legs with Durant
Something else to keep an eye on moving forward for the Lakers will be the status of LeBron James as he bumped legs with Kevin Durant in the first quarter of Friday night’s game and hurt his shin.
James was able to finish the game and played really well, but he admitted after the game that his shin never really loosened up and he was feeling pretty sore.
Similar to Davis, keeping LeBron healthy is essential for the Lakers so hopefully he can get some treatment and be ready to go on Sunday.
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