While the Los Angeles Lakers were able to steal a win from the Indiana Pacers, it was not all good news on Friday night. Prior to the game, it was revealed that Anthony Davis would be out at least another two weeks as he continues to rehab a calf strain suffered in early February.
During the Lakers’ win over the Pacers, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma did their best to make up for the lost production Davis brings. However, it’s unlikely that they will combine for 41 points and 19 rebounds every single night. Despite that, replacing Davis will fall on the shoulders of Kuzma and Harrell by default.
When Harrell was asked about the team’s gameplan without Davis, he said that it’s a constant growing process that has been going on for over a month.
“We’ve been playing this long without AD so I think it’s just an all-around process and a growing process just trying to figure out the different things that we can do and just trying to gel with one another really,” Harrell said.
“Everyone around the league has dealt with different things, injuries, Covid, a lot of different things, it’s just one of those seasons with uncertainty around a lot of different things so the next man just got to step up and be ready. I think we’ve got a deep enough roster to do that so I think everybody is just going to continue to keep getting better and just keep holding it steady until he’s able to make his return.”
Two weeks doesn’t sound like a significant amount of time on the surface, but the Lakers play eight games in those 14 days. In that time, Harrell will have to go up against teams with deep center rotations like the Philadelphia 76ers. On a similar note, he’ll have to play high-quality centers like Karl-Anthony Towns and Deandre Ayton.
If Davis is cleared to play again in two weeks — which is still unclear — he’ll still have missed 18 consecutive games. That long of an extended absence has meant that everyone on the Lakers outside of LeBron James has had to completely shift their role, with Harrell having one of the biggest shifts.
Lakers among those in mix for Tucker
One of the ways the Lakers can help make up for the loss of Davis is to go trade for someone who plays a similar position defensively. One of the names most often brought up in rumors is that of P.J. Tucker of the Houston Rockets.
Tucker is being benched while the team finds a trade for him, and the Lakers are among the teams that have been in talks to acquire him.
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