Anthony Davis is in the midst of ‘ramping up.’ When might he return?

Versatile Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis has now missed over a month with a stress reaction in the navicular bone in his left foot and a fractured osteophyte (aka “bone spur”).

The team has been able to stay somewhat afloat in his absence, but are beginning to take on water, having lost four out of their last five games, with three of them (vs. the Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers, and most recently last night vs the Sacramento Kings) coming in very tight fashion.

Clearly, injuries to Lonnie Walker (knee tendinitis) and particularly Austin Reaves (hamstring strain) have loomed large — not only for the loss of the players themselves, but also due to the additional fatigue for depth players having to fill their roles; and for LeBron James, who acknowledged how tired he was after his performance vs the Houston Rockets.

However, the injuries to Walker and Reaves pale in comparison to Davis, which brings us back to the main question at hand, and the one that will ultimately dictate the Lakers’ season — when will Anthony Davis be back?

In the following video, I outlined his potential return based on what we’ve seen from his ramp-up thus far, and the info we’ve gotten from both media reports and head coach Darvin Ham:

It’s all been quite positive news with Davis’ ramp-up thus far, which is of course promising for his return. I’ll keep you abreast of the latest updates but, as always, I have to urge caution in that the return process is always a day-to-day thing — especially in this case, with the specific region of the injury — so positive trends don’t necessarily guarantee anything. Stay tuned.

Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA and partners with Quantum Performance in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training background to rehab & train elite athletes. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for over 5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.