It’s been a little rough lately watching Los Angeles Lakers basketball. That’s to be expected though when your two best players are out for multiple weeks. It gets even worse when those two players are both solidly in the top 10 of players in the NBA. That’s been the reality of the Lakers’ situation as they’ve been without both LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the past 13 games (6-7 in that span).
However, we finally have some great news on the Anthony Davis front, as head coach Frank Vogel told reporters before the Lakers-Celtics game tonight that Davis has been cleared for full on-court activities (per Dave McMenamin of ESPN). Davis has been out since going down in the February 14th loss to the Nuggets with a calf strain following a week or so of being listed on the injury report with Achilles tendinosis.
Frank Vogel says Anthony Davis has been cleared for full on-court activity. He says it’s “unlikely” AD plays in the two upcoming Utah games on Saturday and Monday but “not out of the question.”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 16, 2021
Mike Trudell of the Lakers/Spectrum SportsNet notes that Vogel said Davis “could” return to play against the Utah Jazz (Lakers have two home games in a row against them on Saturday and Monday), but that that is still “unlikely”. Vogel also confirmed that Davis would be on a minutes restriction of around 15 minutes or so as they let him slowly ramp up. This makes sense with the nature of Davis’ injury, as we all know what the most severe case can be when it comes to Achilles’ injuries.
Anthony Davis is the anchor of Vogel’s stellar defense and came second in Defensive Player of the Year voting last year, but the team may be most excited to get him back on the offensive end of the floor. The Lakers have been below average on offense without him, and have become one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA without him and LeBron as well. Hopefully he will be able to make an impact with his shooting alone as he will probably be avoiding extensive in-game contact while ramping up.
Either way…AD on the waaaaaay!
