Report: Anthony Davis to miss at least two weeks with ankle injury

The hits just keep on coming for the Lakers. Late in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game against the Jazz, Anthony Davis exited with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. After catching a lob pass, Davis inadvertently came down on the heel of Utah center Rudy Gobert and crumpled to the ground in pain.

The team quickly announced that Davis would miss the rest of the game, and afterwards, LeBron James added his co-star was on crutches when he saw him at halftime. Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported not long after that his sources were saying Davis would miss “at least two weeks” with the injury:

Anthony Davis is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks after suffering a right ankle sprain in the first half of the Lakers’ 106-101 win against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, sources told ESPN.

Davis underwent X-rays at Crypto.com Arena that revealed no fracture, according to the team. Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Davis has an MRI scheduled for Thursday, and the team said he will be re-evaluated after the upcoming All-Star break.

Our own Dr. Rajpal Brar broke down the possible timelines, which will depend on the severity of his specific injury:

Davis remained on the ground for an extended period after his ankle nearly touched the floor while twisting down upon landing. While a stretcher was brought on the court, Davis was taken off by teammates DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard. He did not place any weight on the leg while being helped off the floor.

Here are videos of the moment, but fair warning: They are not for the squeamish.

After missing 17 games earlier in the season with an MCL sprain, Davis returned and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. In the eight games prior to Wednesday’s game, Davis was averaging 25.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and was shooting 58.8% from the field. He had scored 17 points in 17 minutes before getting hurt in this one.

Wednesday marked just 20th game that Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were all available together across the team’s first 58 games of the season. Injuries have been the story of the season, with the team never truly getting a run this season of full health, even without including Kendrick Nunn being out the whole year so far.

For Davis, it’s another injury this season that was almost entirely out of his control. His previous knee injury against the Timberwolves came after a player fell into his knee and Wednesday’s came after landing on a player’s foot. It’s been a brutal hand he and the Lakers have continued to be dealt both this season and last.

Hopefully, for Davis’ sake as much as anything else, this injury doesn’t end up being as bad as it looked in real-time, because it certainly looked like one of the more gruesome sprained ankles we’ve seen in quite some time. But if it is as bad as it appeared and he really is forced to miss significant time, this season will just continue to look more and more cursed.

This story will be updated with more information as it continues to develop.

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