Although the Lakers planned on resting Anthony Davis for their scrimmage game against the Washington Wizards on Monday, he likely would have sat out anyway due to an eye injury he suffered against the Orlando Magic on Saturday. Now, it appears there’s a real chance that the Lakers won’t have him for their first seeding game against the Clippers on Thursday.
As part of the injury update he gave the media on his Zoom call, head coach Frank Vogel revealed that Davis didn’t practice with the Lakers on Tuesday because of his eye injury.
“He’s still dealing with some discomfort in his eyes and just continues to be day-to-day, so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Vogel said. “And then Dwight is still battling some soreness in his knees, did not do contact today. Kyle Kuzma is fine with his ankle, he did practice today. LeBron did practice today.”
Davis has about 48 hours left to rest before the Lakers restart their season against the Clippers on Thursday, but Vogel couldn’t commit to him to him playing.
“He’s day-to-day, and he’s still dealing with discomfort,” Vogel said. “There is some concern that he could potentially not play Thursday, but we’re hopeful that he does, and we’ll see how that plays out. He’s going to continue to be evaluated each day.”
It’s very rare that an eye injury keeps a player out for multiple games, but time is on the Lakers’ side with how far ahead they are in the Western Conference standings.
While a win against the Clippers would be a good way to start the season, it doesn’t matter who they beat during their eight-game seeding schedule as long as they come out with three wins to clinch the No. 1 seed. Even then, the Clippers aren’t at full-strength, and seeding doesn’t mean a whole lot without home court advantage anyway.
Will Davis play? Probably, but the point is that it’s not essential that he plays — at least not at this stage of the season. And whenever Davis does return, expect that we may see a pair of goggles around his face.
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