The Lakers are using Anthony Davis off the bench in his return to action tonight after he missed five-and-a-half weeks with right foot issues, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. It marks just the sixth time in Davis’ career that he will be a reserve and the first since the 2013/14 season. Team doctors gave him clearance to play after watching his pre-game warmup.
“I’m happy for him, first and foremost,” coach Darvin Ham said. “I know how frustrating this process has been for him, especially at the level at which he was playing. I’m just happy for him, and definitely happy for us. We’ll get him out there, we won’t go too crazy with his minutes, and see how he responds.”
Davis will be kept on a restriction for a while, expected to begin at about 20-24 minutes per game. Ham told reporters he plans to arrange Davis’ playing time so he’s available late in the fourth quarter in case games are close. He also expressed confidence that Davis is fully ready to return after completing rehab.
“He’s gone through some rigorous therapy, weight training, weight-bearing exercises, activity on the court — both individually and some group workouts,” Ham said. “We would save him from himself if we thought there was any type of threat or harm that he could do to himself. So he had these boxes that he had to check, and he’s checked all of them. So we feel comfortable with him appearing tonight.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- Newly acquired Rui Hachimura should take minutes away from Troy Brown, Wenyen Gabriel and Juan Toscano-Anderson in the Lakers’ frontcourt, Jovan Buha of The Athletic states in a discussion with fellow Athletic writer Josh Robbins about Monday’s trade. Buha sees Hachimura as an upgrade in terms of size and athleticism, though Robbins cautions that he focused too much on scoring with the Wizards and didn’t develop other parts of his game.
- After the Hachimura deal, vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said the Lakers will only consider trading their 2027 or 2029 first-round picks if the deal makes them a championship “front-runner,” but Buha observes in a separate story that there doesn’t appear to be an available trade that would do that. Pelinka promised that the team will remain active in the trade market, but Buha doesn’t believe expectations should be high.
- Lonnie Walker and Austin Reaves will both be reevaluated Friday before the Lakers leave on a five-game road trip, tweets Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Walker, who was listed as questionable for tonight’s game, has left knee tendinitis, while Reaves is recovering from a strained left hamstring.
This team ain’t going nowhere…
As predicted, LAL keep raising the bar keeps for dealing those picks. I can’t think of 5 players in the NBA, that, acquired with 30 or so games left in the season, would make the LAL the frontrunner for the championship. I don’t expect any of them to be available.
Seen a couple reports saying the Chicago bulls would accept Russ and 2 first for Zach LaVine right now.
I was liking Russ coming off the bench for them and AD returning but I think if the reports are true you have to take that offer if your the GM.
Yes it makes your stronger now and you couple try have a go for a title but also life after LeBron, you have LaVine and AD as your future duo to build around. I think it would be great for the short and long term.
LaVines poor defence is somewhat covered by Dennis Schroder, Pat Bev alongside him and AD down low in the paint. LaVine is great in transition and Bron can feed him a lot of easy buckets on the break. He’s got a great 3 point shot and can hit clutch shots. Think they need his youth and athleticism.
I’d also go Tristan Thompson on a rest of the season deal
Schroder LaVine Bron AD Bryant
Beverly Walker Brown Hachimura Thompson
having AD and Lavine on the same team is too much injury risk, considering they both got max salaries
Also, LaVine sucks and AD isn’t wonderful either so there’s that..
Big injury risk yes but what’s the alternative… continue with Russ Bron and AD something we all know ain’t going to work led by 2 guys very close to retirement and a very broken AD.
Idk LaVine Bron AD is somewhat similar to a DWade Bron Bosh trio and I think that would be a smart move to make for them heading forward
EVERY report out of Chicago says they are gonna try to make a run with the current group.
Bulls have no interest in Westbrook, nor do they want the Lakers picks.
The Lakers should have went ahead and got Melo or Whiteside by now
Westbrook, D Jones and a 1st to Detroit for Bogdanovic, Noel, Burks and a 2nd rd pick
Detroit tanks for one more year. Tell russ to go be russ for half a year to sell some extra tickets in the mean time
I’d do that in a heartbeat if I was LA.
I think a 3 team trade between the Nets, Lakers, and Hawks could work. Nets trade Ben Simmons to the Hawks + Lakers 2 first round picks, 2 seconds, and Cam Thomas. Nets trade Kyrie and Joe Harris to the Lakers. Hawks trade Trae Young to the Nets. Lakers trade Westbrook to Nets for Kyrie Irving + the 2 first round picks they own