Anthony Davis missed two games this week because of Achilles tendinosis, but the Lakers star doesn’t expect it to be a long-term concern, writes Jovah Buha of The Athletic. After returning to the lineup with a 35-point performance Friday, Davis explained to reporters how the injury is affecting him.
“It felt great going into the game,” he said. “But as you play, I’m always using that Achilles tendon. It got sore towards the end from just constantly moving on it. But it felt great coming into the game, felt great throughout the game, but late game it was kind of bothering me a little bit. I felt like we had the game in hand when I was able to — and Coach felt that way — when I was able to sit down the last two and a half (minutes).”
Davis added that doctors told him the pain isn’t coming directly from the Achilles tendon, but from an adjacent body part in the same area of the leg. He said the quickest way to recover is through rest, but he doesn’t want to sit out a lot of games in a row.
“The doctors and training staff feel comfortable enough for me to go out there and perform as well,” Davis said. “So it’s something that’s gonna continue to get better. (I’m) constantly doing treatment on it throughout the day, throughout the night, and wearing stuff in my shoes to help out the pain level and wearing tape and all these things to make it feel better throughout the course of time, and basically, I’m very — I’m able to just go out there and play and not worry about it.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- After trimming his rotation during the week, Lakers coach Frank Vogel expanded it to 10 players Friday with the return of Davis and Alex Caruso, Buha adds in the same story. Vogel called it “impossible decisions” to determine what to do with Wesley Matthews and Markieff Morris when the full team is healthy, noting that both of them “deserve to be in the rotation.”
- The Clippers lost Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, but their bench remains among the most productive in the league, according to Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. One of the new components is center Ivica Zubac, who was a starter last season. “I am just in a space where I want Zu to be great,” said reserve guard Lou Williams. “I want to push him, I want to challenge him to be the best player that he can be and at the same time, we can feed off each other’s success and continue to build.”
- Seattle will be at the top of the list whenever the NBA decides to expand, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said on a Clubhouse podcast.
Harrell wasn’t that big of a loss for the Clips. I think he fits Lakers better anyway. Both sides are better off, and that rarely happens.
Harrell left cause he hated Paul George’s guts and clippers catered to making George happy..The funniest part with the clippers is this year Kawaii doesn’t need to sit out back to back games. it’s almost like Lue is makIng him play And not allowing him to be a diva.. he’s only missed 4 of their games and 2-3 were due to covid quarantine. Good on Lue for letting pg and kawhi know who makes the decisions.. still lakers town and still lakers in 5 though
It’s absolutely hilarious how everyone thought the Lakers were going to cater to their stars when in reality it was the Clippers going overboard with the pandering.
“Davis added that doctors told him the pain isn’t coming directly from the Achilles tendon, but from an adjacent body part in the same area of the leg.”
Literally describing exactly how bad injuries happen (by putting pressure on another part if you favor the injured part) but with a “this is normal” sounding quote. Just insanity, Davis should be sitting for at least a month, or else he’ll be sitting for many months/years.
His injury isn’t the Achilles.. his injury doesn’t cause pain.. it’s sore.. His mri came back clean.. you don’t think lebron is sore after twisting an ankle but still plays thru it.. All players are dealing with soreness.AD needs to man up. Every other game he has an injury and needs to sit.. he sat out a game earlier due to a butt bruise.. Kobe shot free throws on a torn Achilles and walked off the floor.. Kobe dislocated his finger during a game and popped it in and stayed in game.. those are injuries.. AD has zero pain threshold and just doesn’t seem very interest playing this year.. I’m sure if he was playing for a contract this year his numbers wouldn’t be down across the board but now he’s got his ring and Lebron carrying the load..AD, He’s a good player but not a franchise player. Lakers can win with AD sitting.. record without Ad 10-4 last 2 years.lebron out they’d be screwed.
Davis has played 22 out of 27 games. That is hardly sitting out “every other game.” Also, what you call a “bruised butt” is actually a bruised tailbone, and anyone who has had one knows it is no picnic. That is pretty much common knowledge, and he went down hard when he got that injury.
I’ve seen steph curry, lonzo ball, trae young, luka doncic, AD, dennis schroder, rolled their ankles, and its not a beautiful sight to watch!
But if you compare them to Lebron James’ stepping on an opponent’s shoe or in a similar rolling of ankle like the ones i mentioned above, my oh my, lebron james is a different species, he’s not human! LOL
That’s exactly how I feel, who gives a f**k if they’re a #3 seed. I’d sit AD for a month or get surgery and sit for 2-3 months and have him back at full strength
Your both kinda right Marty and Lakers-
Other body injs can lead to overusing other body parts like Durant causing a bigger inj
But AD is a bit of a softy and doesnt like to “play thru” things….
But Ill leave it to the LAL training staff over Martys take here as the sky is going to fall
10 more games then put that guy on ice for a while. Utah does not allow for complacency, Lakers are small(ish) w AD, w/out its a problem and a half
The lack of not being able to blow anybody out by the end of the 3rd qrter this year takes a small toll