OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lakers' decision to sit Anthony Davis on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City is precautionary, with coach Darvin Ham saying the team wants to "monitor" the stress reaction in his right foot that cost him 20 games earlier this season.
"That's just what it is — being mindful," Ham said before the game. "With any type of stress reaction, the wear-and-tear, you constantly have to monitor that. We talked about all of that. We discussed it. And that's where it's at."
Davis played in the Lakers' loss to Memphis on Tuesday, and following that game, he was among the players citing the importance of Wednesday's game in Oklahoma City, with Dennis Schroder calling it a "must win."
Ham said Davis didn't re-aggravate the injury against the Grizzlies and that his absence against Oklahoma City has been planned for "weeks."
"He's frustrated as hell," Ham said of Davis. "He wants to be out there, but he also understands the process of us managing his foot the right way. And again, it's not like — it's a stress reaction, so anything could set that thing off. The more stress you put on it, the more it's gonna react. I'm not saying it flared up or anything. He's absolutely playing pain free. It's just something we're monitoring that we want to be extra careful and cautious about."
The Lakers lost LeBron James for an indefinite amount of time on Sunday, when James remaining in the game to play through injury after injuring his right foot during a dramatic comeback win over the Mavericks.
Ham said James' injury didn't affect the Lakers' thinking with Davis.
"It's challenging, for sure. But again, I think I've said this a couple times during the course of the season, sometimes you have to save them from themselves," Ham said. "And for us, we understand the magnitude of what we're trying to accomplish with these last 20 games. Obviously I think we've made some good headway with all the moves across the board, what we did at the trade deadline, the type of skill that we acquired, the way that it's fit and shown itself to fit.
"LeBron's injury is extremely unfortunate and bad timing, but it is what it is. It's a very real part of our sport. And the last thing that we want to do is have a situation with AD where we're pushing and pushing and pushing on the front end and something happens just because of the workload and now for the duration, or longevity piece he's not available at all."
