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UPDATE: Barring any sort of setback while he warms up, Anthony Davis will return to the floor when the Lakers play the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Jan. 25!
Dave McMenamin of ESPN broke the story:
New story: Anthony Davis plans to return Wednesday, barring any setback during pregame warmups, sources told ESPN. LAL is 2 1/2 games out of the No. 6 seed with 34 games left to play https://t.co/eRNq09vwsp
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 25, 2023
Original story and updates follow.
For as long as Anthony Davis is out, the Los Angeles Lakers will be in trouble. The All-Star big man was firmly re-establishing himself as one of the best players in the NBA before suffering a foot injury against the Denver Nuggets. He had even played his way into the fringes of the MVP conversation.
For now, that campaign is on indefinite hiatus, if not over entirely. The Lakers waited a week to provide any update on Davis beyond that he was out with “right foot soreness,” but their statement on Friday, Dec. 23 didn’t provide much more clarity:
After extensive consultation with Lakers team physicians and outside specialists, it has been determined that Anthony Davis has a stress injury in his right foot. Davis will be out indefinitely. Further updates will be provided when appropriate.
Davis was averaging 27.4 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game over his 25 games played this year prior to the injury, all while shooting a career-high 59.4% from the field and playing 100% of his minutes at the center position.
While we don’t know for sure how long Davis will be out for as of right now because of how vague the team’s medical updates have been, the early reports were that he would miss at least a month from the time he was injured, an absence that would theoretically cost him a minimum of 17 games. There is, however, hope he will avoid surgery:
ESPN Sources: The pain has subsided in past several days in Anthony Davis' foot and he's expected to rest it for another 7-to-10 days and have it re-evaluated and see if he can return to play. For now, there's hope that a procedure can be avoided. https://t.co/4B2RXiAZTV
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 23, 2022
But for however long Davis is out, we will be tracking his return-to-play timeline and providing every update we get through the team, media reports and more at this page. So bookmark this story and stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for more updates on when Davis can get back on the hardwood and try to help the Lakers push their way back into playoff (or play-in) contention.
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