Lakers superstar Anthony Davis missed the team’s game against the Timberwolves on Sunday due to a right calf strain, an injury he sustained in the team’s season opener against the Clippers and re-aggravated against the Mavericks on Christmas, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times writes.
The team will be cautious with his return, as the 27-year-old is coming off a season in which he averaged 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks en route to his first-ever NBA championship.
“Well, we just want to be responsible with it,” coach Frank Vogel said. “…We want to take advantage of our depth and be intelligent with this injury.”
Los Angeles has plenty of frontcourt pieces besides Davis, including LeBron James, Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. The team remains one of the deepest in the league as it seeks its second straight title and fourth since 2009.
Here are some other notes from the Pacific Division:
- Anthony Slater of The Athletic examines what’s concerning about the Warriors‘ start to the season, along with what’s not. Golden State has suffered two straight blowout losses to start the campaign, struggling on both ends of the floor. The team is also coping with the losses of Draymond Green (foot), Klay Thompson (torn Achilles; out for season) and Marquese Chriss, who suffered a broken fibula in practice and will also miss the season. “I’ve got to stay on them and continue to work, find ways to get better organized and look like a five-man unit,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re just scattered right now. It just looks like we’re a series of moving parts.”
- Suns guard E’Twaun Moore is staying ready despite not making the team’s rotation in the first two games, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. “To his credit, when I talked to him about it, he handled it about as good as anybody I’ve ever seen,” coach Monty Williams said. “It’s one of the reasons why we wanted him on the team. He’s going to be ready when he’s called on, but he handled it like a champion.”
- The Kings have recorded two straight wins, the franchise’s best start to a season in 17 years, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes. As Jones notes, players on Sacramento fully expected this to happen, taking a 124-122 win over Denver on Wednesday and 106-103 win over Phoenix on Saturday. “Why not?” Marvin Bagley III asked. “They tie their shoes the same way we tie ours. They practice the same way we practice. Why not? We have a good team, a great team. I know for myself, I’m not satisfied. I want to keep continuing to push, keep continuing to get better, continue to keep winning. Nobody’s surprised over here.”
Maybe bring in Dedmon… just saying
Seriously. Why? If Dedmon were a great fit for the Warriors, he would have spent his career with the Dubs. Two head coaches at Golden State passed on him. He has bounced from team to team.
I’m a bit slow, but I didn’t recall Draymond being injured? I was shocked actually when I didn’t see him play on Tuesday. When is his ETA? Can the Warriors survive without their emotional leader?
Someone had a bold take the other day about what’s really going on with Draymond. They speculated that it’s an agency move to hold him out of the first few games to show just how valuable he is to the Warriors’ success. I think it’s a little out of the box and probably not true, but it’s an interesting theory.
Green has a foot injury. He is practicing and should be back when they play Detroit. Warriors are always over cautious on players returning. Green wanted to play tonight but Kerr said no.
Good stuff, thanks for clarifying. Good team win for you guys! I was yelling at LaVine for going too early for that shot. Really thought they had it in the bag until Steph took over.
They didn’t need him in Chicago, it was an easy 1-point win.
Okay clearly you never seen a game of basketball in your entire life. There is NO such thing as a “an Easy 1 point win”. We were up 8 with 3 mins left and Steph went off and took over. Shot selection by Lavine was bad too, he took a shot 19 secs into the clock and hoisted a 3. So please stop watching basketball bc I can tell you’re the guy everyone skips over and is the de facto stats guy in every rec league.
“Easy 1 point win” this dude says lmao then based on your standards. Houston got blown out in a 2 point loss???
Just ignore the troll, he’s only here to make Warriors fans angry because his weak franchise could never beat them.
But you said the Warriors would get blown out in Chicago. You bragged about it.
Yeah, I had a ‘bold take’ after a seriously tasty spicy Burrito in the Mission the next morning.
That was me. Draymond does have a foot injury though. Could he have played against the Bulls? Sure. Luckily he wasn’t needed.
Damion Lee breakout season up next?
The Dray sitting out because Clutch Sports wants to shoe his value is so ridiculous. You can’t prove you’re a center point of the team when it’s second best player is gone for another season. We all say what this Warriors team looked like when Dray was out there without Steph, Klay, and KD
Kings have won barely. Against Suns, they went 5/23 from three but were much more spirited… can that last all year when it hasn’t? Same old story at the 4, Bagley got attention but Bjelica had the best team+/-. Bags should move on, stop teasing.
If Booker was his normal self, Suns win, but he just contributed attempts. Maybe Rubio got underrated again!
Ey really? Bagley is the future with 21 years and his Dynamik play. Hield, Halibourten, Fox, Belly and Robinson are good three point shooters. We shoot in 72 games 34-38%. That’s Okey.
Suns are a good team. Rubio are a strong playmaker but a healthy Chris Paul is a upside in shooting and clutch time. Bridges, Brooker, Crowder, Ayton are strong to way player. Okey bookers defense…. But his offense skills are very beautiful.
Gratulation Suns for the win in this evening.
But the Kings are a respected Team
They have to stay spirited, and tough inside. A short season may help.
Picking Bagley over Luka for absolutely no reason = the Kings should be thrown out of the league.
Thunder is the only team unbeaten in West
…And they only have 71 more games to play. Should we crown them champions? Let’s end the season now!!! OKC is the best team.
that’s a bet in vegas. last remaining unbeaten NBA team.
I knew Golden State should have grabbed Al Horford instead of Oubre.
Al Horford would of taken valuable time from weisman. Kelly will be fine it’s just taking him time to adjust. Might be better to play Wiggins at PF and outbreak at SF Lee at SG until green comes back .
kings