Anthony Davis says x-ray came back negative after injury against Sixers

There are basically two options when thinking about the Lakers’ injury luck this season: Either laugh, or cry. Or, potentially, both. Two days after Anthony Davis returned from his MCL sprain, LeBron James sparkled and the Lakers beat Brooklyn on the road, the latter was saddled to the bench with knee soreness and the former had his own wrist soreness that required a brief trip to the locker room during Thursday’s loss.

Davis injured his wrist during his own incredible performance against the Sixers, slamming home a dunk in the first half before falling to the ground. Immediately, Davis began flexing his wrist and eventually went back to the locker room to have it re-taped before returning.

The good news for Davis — and the Lakers — is that the injury does not appear to be a serious one. After the game, Davis revealed he had an x-ray on the wrist that revealed no further damage.

“On the play, on the back cut, got the pass from (Talen) and dunked it and (Joel Embiid) tried to block it,” Davis said. ‘Body contact, go to the ground and try to catch myself, landed on my wrist. Little sore. Nothing wrong with it. No fracture or nothing. Just a soft tissue injury, soreness and stuff.”

It didn’t slow him down on the night as he out-dueled Embiid individually — even if it came in a loss — by tallying 31 points on 14-21 shooting with 12 rebounds. It was a sterling performance from Davis in just his second game back from injury. But even late in the game, Davis was seen on the court during a timeout still flexing his wrist as the soreness persisted.

“My wrist was bothering me toward the end so I was trying to shoot the ball,” Davis said, “(to) follow through and stuff and see if I could shoot, to be honest.”

It’s cruelly fitting that, three days removed from returning to the court from a month-long absence with his knee injury, much of the postgame talk was about a different injury for Davis. The Lakers have battled injuries to Davis, James and nearly every role player at one time or another this season.

Davis and the Lakers, though, will have little time to recover as they are set to travel to Charlotte to continue their road trip on Friday. Coming so closely to Davis’ return, his status for the game is uncertain.

“We’ll see tomorrow,” Davis said. “After the Brooklyn game, my knee was a little sore. First time playing. And my minutes went up… tonight so I’ll wake up tomorrow, see how it feels and play it by ear and we’ll go from there.”

With James’ status also uncertain, the Lakers could sit anywhere between full strength or as shorthanded as they’ve been all season when it comes to star power when they meet the Hornets on Friday. But given how things continue to play out for the franchise this season and last, it all feels somehow fitting and expected, even if it’s no less frustrating.

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