Report: Anthony Davis making progress towards return, will have another MRI this week

Anthony Davis has been out since Feb. 16 with what the Lakers termed a mid-foot sprain, and it’s not an overstatement to say that outside of two games where LeBron James activated God mode, the team has looked pretty hopeless without him.

The good news? Davis is set to be reevaluated this week — Thursday will officially be four weeks since he suffered the injury — and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on “NBA Countdown” that Davis is “making progress” towards a return:

“His walking boot is off, and I’m told this week the next step for him is he’ll get on the court and start to do some stationary shooting. And they still, with 16 games left for the Lakers and the toughest schedule left in the league, the expectation is that they can still hang on to the play-in and get in the postseason and they can have Anthony Davis back.”

That’s certainly a welcome update for anyone hoping the Lakers can still turn this season around, a group of optimists that reportedly include the Lakers themselves. Yes, despite reports that some in the organization have given up on the season, Wojnarowski says that Davis and the team are very much intent on him making a return for the playoffs.

They are also (seemingly) hoping to make some noise once they get there.

“They’re not punting on this season. Anthony Davis wants to be back, this team wants him back... He’ll make more progress this week they hope, and he’ll have another MRI which will be about four weeks out from the injury, and the hope is that he can then start progressing towards returning before the postseason begins.”

Davis has missed the Lakers’ last eight games with this injury, and the team is 2-6 in that time. He will also likely miss at least the team’s next three contests before his reevaluation, if that indeed takes place on Thursday.

If Davis is immediately cleared, that would leave him with 13 games left to ramp up, and any delay beyond Thursday will obviously cost him more. But there is no sense in the team rushing him back at this point, because their only hope is having him and James healthy for the playoffs. How far the team falls before he returns, however, remains an open question, but at least all the news is positive so far. Davis and the team are obviously hoping that continues this week.

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