Anthony Davis will be out of action again after landing on the foot of Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and gruesomely injuring his ankle on Wednesday night.
Davis immediately received X-rays after exiting the game, which came back negative. He will be re-evaluated after the all-star break, reports ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
It’s been a rough go for Davis since the beginning of the 2020-21 season. He’s suffered injuries to his MCL, Achilles, groin and calf, just to name a few. His season ended prematurely during the last postseason after straining his groin. With the latest injury, the ninth-seeded Lakers now find themselves in a familiar space as the regular season’s end inches closer.
Anthony Davis was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, the Lakers announced.
There is no time table for a recovery at this time. He will be reevaluated after the All-Star break. pic.twitter.com/dMYebkTAVv
— ESPN (@espn) February 17, 2022
LeBron James is the obvious player who’ll fill the void of AD’s absence. He’ll continue to wear multiple hats — scoring, rebounding, assisting and whatever else the team needs — as he’s done for most of the season. But he’s far from the only person who’ll need to elevate their game further if these Lakers plan on holding down the fort.
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It would be an ideal time for Russell Westbrook to have at least a few throwback games.
And Carmelo Anthony, who’s dealing with an injury of his own, will need to revert back to the Melo of earlier this season. It was just a few months ago when he was a top candidate for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, providing lights-out shooting and instant offense off of the bench. But Anthony’s gradually fallen back into a lesser role as his shooting cooled off and the Lakers’ key players got healthy.
All in all, this initial diagnosis of Davis’ injury isn’t a terrible one, as the injury itself certainly looked far worse than it turned out to be. But the timing is still unfortunate. The Lakers’ runway for getting their season turned around is getting shorter by the day. We’ll patiently await the post-All-Star break re-evaluation.
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