Lakers head coach Darvin Ham provided an encouraging update on the status of injured star Anthony Davis on Friday, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link).
“The biggest thing is, his pain has just about dissipated,” Ham said, adding that Davis was trending in a positive direction as far as a possible ramp-up to return to action.
According to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group (Twitter link), Davis told reporters that he has multiple injuries in his foot, including a bone spur and a stress reaction, but the latter is what has been causing him pain and it has been healing well with rest. Davis added that he has been encouraged by the recovery process, tweets McMenamin.
Davis also said he would “probably” have the bone spur surgically repaired in the offseason, Goon notes (via Twitter).
The 29-year-old big man sustained the stress reaction in a win over Denver on November 16.
There were mixed reports as far as possible timetable for Davis’ return in the aftermath of the injury. Shams Charania of The Athletic wrote that he would be out for at least a month, but Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said the Lakers planned to reevaluate Davis in a week-to-10 days because his pain was subsiding. That was seven days ago.
While the updates from Ham and Davis are certainly positive, it has already been two weeks since he last played, and it’s hard to say how much additional time he’ll miss. The Lakers were vague in their initial press release regarding the injury and there wasn’t even a rough timetable given today.
The Lakers’ season basically hinges on how quickly Davis can recover. They have gone 2-5 since he went down and now hold a 14-21 record, trailing the Warriors by three-and-a-half games for the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Davis was having an outstanding season prior to his latest injury, averaging 27.4 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.3 SPG and 2.1 BPG while shooting a career-high 59.4% from the field and 82.6% from the charity stripe. His impact is felt on both ends of the court, but the team’s defense in particular has absolutely cratered without the eight-time All-Star.
Davis is a ridiculous, often injured, highly talented basketball player. Lakers need to trade him and move on in the off-season. Maybe 20 minutes a game instead? Every other game? Not sure what happens for Davis in the future, but this is not sustainable for the Lakers. LBJ can play wherever he wants, but he can’t carry the Lakers without Davis. Maybe Houston with James Harden next season? That would be a treat!
Ham remember as much as you want to win you just can’t put AD on the floor for long minutes. 34 minutes a game the max. If you have a big lead take AD out. Ham needs to baby AD.
While Davis’ pain has dissipated, the same can’t be said for the pain felt by Lakers fans.
Much to the delight of Celtics fans
Most of AD’s injuries the time he has been on the Lakers were caused by freak accidents, usually involving another players foot. Limiting his minutes won’t limit his probability of getting injured again.
The sooner he gets back the sooner he can injure something else