The Lakers have cleared Anthony Davis to begin on-court, full-contact workouts, according to Dan Woike and Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Davis, who hasn’t played since December 17 due to a sprained left knee, underwent a reevaluation on Monday and team doctors determined that recent testing showed no damage to the knee.
Although Los Angeles hasn’t provided a specific timeline for Davis’ return, people with knowledge of the situation tell Woike and Turner that the big man could be back during the club’s upcoming six-game road trip. That trip will begin on Friday in Orlando and runs through Sunday, January 30.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- While the update on Davis was relatively positive, the same can’t be said of point guard Kendrick Nunn. As Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group relays, head coach Frank Vogel told reporters on Monday that Nunn’s right knee “didn’t respond well” during his ramp-up process, and his Lakers debut isn’t imminent. “Bone bruises are tricky, and his timeline is delayed,” Vogel said. “Still have no firm timeline on it, but he’s pulled back from workload until it calms down.”
- Stanley Johnson, back under contract on his third 10-day deal, scored 10 fourth-quarter points on Monday vs. Utah and played a key role in helping the Lakers snap their three-game losing streak. As Turner writes for The Los Angeles Times, Johnson’s impact and role keep growing and he’s making a strong case for a rest-of-season commitment.
- In case you missed it, Vogel is firmly on the hot seat, with the team said to be evaluating him on a game-to-game basis. In his latest Substack column, Marc Stein argues that, while Vogel isn’t blameless in Los Angeles’ up-and-down performance this season, holding him culpable for the team’s struggles is “outright laughable.”
2020 may be be the last laker title for awhile. The Nets may not get one either!
Vogel isn’t blameless, but god, Pelinka should be taking the brunt of the criticism. It’s not even the Westbrook trade by itself, but he knew full well that he was weakening the defense by making it and didn’t bother to bring in complementary pieces to shore things up. Instead he signed the desiccated corpse of DeAndre Jordan. Like… really? Anyone with eyes could tell he was cooked. The rest of his signings weren’t as terrible, but only Monk has really matched or exceeded expectations this year.
Pelinka had no choice in that trade, buddy hield would’ve helped the lakers so much but Lebron is stuck in 2014 and thinks all the good young players are gonna go play with him for minimums, he’s lucky Malik monk was desperate but dude will get paid out of the Lakers budget this offseason
As I said, the Westbrook trade wasn’t the problem by itself, it’s that instead of actually building around what he had in a LeBron-Westbrook-Davis Big 3, Pelinka did the roster construction equivalent of throwing a tantrum. Jordan and Ariza are net negatives, Nunn has yet to play, and the rest of the roster is either very meh, or has underperformed. Westbrook’s slumping and awkward adjustment with the team haven’t helped at all, but the bigger problem is that the rest of the roster behind the stars is weak.
Nah, Monk and Melo have been awesome
Reeves was a gift as a UDFA
Stanley has been a great find, Avery was a solid ink
They did great w Mins
Age hasn’t been a problem, shooting hasn’t been a problem like everyone said it would be as well pre-season – Their problem is defense at the 1-3 , they have none…and ofc health
Disagree—the Westbrook trade was and is the main issue. I won’t defend the Jordan signing but Pelinka was restricted to minimums because of the RWB trade. Can’t rail on him too hard given that fact.
Pelinka was NOT limited to mins— he got RW. Your fact is not a fact. The RW trade is the GM’s call not LJ’s call. You want to dispute that, provide some facts for it. Observer cynicism is not a proof. LJ made the calls when he first got there, but that arrangement is in decline, since it is no longer as crucial that LJ re-signs.
Not sure if this is directed to me, as I never implied the Russ trade was *because* of James (although he no doubt approved it).
But RE: Facts, I will point you to this page:
link to basketball-reference.com
You can scroll down to contracts. With the exception of Russ, AD, and Lebron you have Nunn (via the MLE), THT (who they resigned), and Luol Deng, whose contract they stretched and is no longer on the roster, every single player is on a minimum contract.
So … yes he was essentially restricted to minimums?
Unless you’re arguing the tax MLE, which is just petty if so. And yes, sure, hypothetically, the Lakers could choose to pay like half a billion in luxury tax this season, but in realm of feasible decisions the RWB trade restricted them to vet min contracts.
Interesting observation re this post, Vogel is highlighted as being day to day Coach, yet all the comments ignore that and feature Pelinka as the problem! Makes ¢.
Finally we can see AD back in action, the league is never the same without him, a true legend of the game!
Your definition of “legend” must differ from most others.
Generally speaking “most people” or the majority tend to be wrong, so many thanks for saying that I am right!
The lakers are a joke. Guys like Kurt rambis really have executive jobs because his wife and the owner Jeanie buss are friends
Davis is having the worst season of his career, not just injuries but all his shooting stats are all went down
You gotta love haters lol
Pelinka was not in charge last off-season.
Says who? source