Report: Anthony Davis could return to Lakers in first week of April

As more and more positive steps are being made in his rehab from his foot sprain, Anthony Davis looks increasingly set to rejoin the Lakers in the coming weeks. On Thursday, Dave McMenamin of ESPN provided the latest update on his status, indicating he could be back in the next couple of weeks.

If everything continues to progress well in Davis’ rehab, the All-Star big man could be suiting up for games by the first week of April, at the earliest, sources told ESPN.

Prior to Wednesday’s game for the Lakers against the Sixers, head coach Frank Vogel spoke about Davis. While his initial timeline set a re-evaluation date for late last week that never came, Vogel said he’s being re-evaluated daily and is continuing to make progress.

“It’s really just he’s getting evaluated on a daily basis based on the amount of work he did the day prior,” Vogel said. “Not like imaging and things like that but how is it responding to the increased workload. He’s coming along really well.”

The Lakers have a busy slate of games in the first week of April with four of the final five games of the season coming between Sunday, April 3 and Friday, April 8 with games against Denver, Phoenix, Golden State and Oklahoma City.

It won’t offer much in the way of ramping up for Davis before a potential postseason for the Lakers. However, upon return from his sprained MCL earlier in the season, Davis needed just one game before dropping 31 points and 12 rebounds on the Sixers and immediately finding his form.

He’ll have to replicate that if and when he does return to the court for the Lakers at the end of this season with their postseason lives still up in the air. With the Lakers relying on a return from AD for their play-in hopes, a lot of pressure rides on his rehab process for the Lakers to be competitive when it matters.

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