Report: Anthony Davis to undergo first individual basketball workout to test foot in coming days

The Los Angeles Lakers got some bad injury news on Friday with the announcement that Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV will both miss the next two weeks, but flying more under the radar was a potentially meaningful and positive update on Anthony Davis and his efforts to return from the stress injury and bone spurs he’s dealing with in his right foot.

Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report writes that Davis will take his first meaningful steps towards returning to the court at some point in the next week:

Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, who is rehabbing a stress injury to his right foot, will be taking a significant step forward in a few days by testing out his foot on the court in an individual workout, league sources tell Bleacher report.

This is one of the assignments in the ramp-up process before Davis is cleared for contact drills and then ultimately given the green light to rejoin his teammates for practices.

Davis is progressing well with minimal pain, sources say.

This follows a few updates that have trickled out on Davis over the last few days, from an ESPN report that he was making “encouraging” progress in his rehab to Lakers head coach Darvin Ham stating that his All-Star center was “right on pace” with his recovery plan. Davis himself said last weekend that his pain has “subsided tremendously.”

As our own Dr. Rajpal Brar explained in his latest video, this sort of workout was always going to be the next step in the incremental rehab and recovery process for Davis; to test the foot, see if the time off of it allowed him to stress it without pain, and then continue to work his way back into playing shape while evaluating how the injuries respond every step of the way.

While we still don’t have a timeline for when Davis could return, he was originally slated to be re-evaluated on approximately Jan. 20, the same date the Lakers said they would evaluate and provide updates on Walker and Reaves. That is still at least seven games away, but at least it appears that Davis is making progress before that date.

Stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for updates on how that workout went, and how Davis’ rehab continues to go as this story develops, but it’s safe to say that the next few days could be huge in determining if there is still hope for the Lakers this year, or if Davis will ultimately require the surgery he and the team hope to avoid and this is a lost season.

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