Anthony Davis leaves Lakers scrimmage vs. Magic with eye injury, is day-to-day

Anthony Davis was poked in the eye during the first half as the Lakers scrimmaged against the Orlando Magic, and did not return to the game. Davis finished the morning with a near double-double of 9 points and 10 rebounds in just 9 minutes, and Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said the team will update his status on Sunday.

“He was poked in the eye and he’ll be day-to-day. He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow, and we’ll see how it responds overnight,” Vogel said in his postgame Zoom call with the media.

Vogel had said before the game that he was planning to play a mostly normal rotation against the Magic, with Davis and LeBron James playing in the fourth quarter after sitting out the entire second half of the Lakers’ first scrimmage against the Dallas Mavericks. That obviously was scrapped after Davis was hurt.

If Davis misses any time or is limited at all, expect Kyle Kuzma — who had an excellent game against the Magic — to see an uptick in minutes, as well as basically every other member of the Lakers’ frontcourt, given that Davis plays both the center and power forward positions for the team. Adding to Vogel’s options there in the next scrimmage will be Markieff Morris, who the team is planning to play against the Washington Wizards on Monday, his debut after being the last Laker to arrive in the bubble.

The good news for the Lakers is that Davis still has plenty of time to recover before their seeding games begin on Thursday, as well as the reality that the playoffs don’t start until a few weeks after. Getting Davis on the floor with his teammates as everyone readjusts to each other after several months away is good, but with the best record in the Western Conference and the No. 1 seed basically locked up, the Lakers can afford to be cautious here.

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