Despite another disappointing loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony Davis did his best to try and lead the Los Angeles Lakers to victory. Davis finished with 29 points and 18 rebounds, but the main story after the game, unfortunately, was concern over a potential Davis injury.
At the end of the first half, Davis jammed his thumb and spent the final seconds in obvious pain as he clutched his right hand. The concern only heightened as Davis did not come out to start the second half with Carmelo Anthony starting in his place.
Davis would eventually come out of the locker room with his right thumb taped up and played the remainder of the game just fine. And after the game, Davis didn’t seem too concerned about the thumb moving forward. “It’s fine,” Davis responded when asked about the injury, which is good news for Lakers fans.
This would seem to be a good sign for Davis moving forward and the Lakers won’t have much time off as they head to Portland to face the Trail Blazers on Saturday. As for his status for that game, Davis stopped short of making a declaration simply adding, “We’ll see how it feels.”
As far as what caused the injury itself, Davis went into further detail about the play and the pain he dealt with, stating that he jammed in on the side of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after going up for a rebound and it immediately swelled up to the point where his range of motion was limited.
“It was at the end of the second, I hit my thumb on Shai’s side, came back and it swelled up pretty bad, really couldn’t move it. Just tried to go back out there and finish the game.”
The sight of Davis dealing with some sort of injury issue has been a familiar one for Lakers fans. While the majority of his ailments are minor and result in him missing only a game or two if he sits out at all, Davis has a reputation as being injury prone and his groin issue last season is still on the minds of most.
With LeBron James already out for the next few games, the Lakers can ill afford to lose Davis too who has looked excellent to start the season. He will undoubtedly do everything possible to be on the court when the Lakers head to Portland and they will need him to be at his best.
Vogel gives update on James
Before the loss to the Thunder, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel gave an update on James’ status after he suffered an abdominal injury.
“Any time LeBron’s out, and he’s gonna miss some time, there’s obviously concern. But hopefully this is something that’s minimal and hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
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