UPDATE 01/24/22: After being held out of the Lakers-Heat game on Sunday, it sounds as if we are finally seeing the return of Anthony Davis tomorrow.
He is now listed as probable on the Lakers’ injury report ahead of their Tuesday game in Brooklyn against the Nets.
Anthony Davis has been upgraded to probable for Tuesday’s game in BKN, per the Lakers.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 24, 2022
Although Davis was offiicially held out of Sunday’s game against the Heat after being questionable beforehand, the All-Star did get a nice game of two-versus-two in before the game. He played with Wayne Ellington, facing off against Kent Bazemore and DeAndre Jordan in a pretty high-tempo game. If you saw the video below from the OC Register’s Kyle Goon, you could have probably easily predicted that we’d be seeing Davis against the Nets in their next game.
Anthony Davis has been out since December 17th.
Original story (01/22/22):
Amidst the chaos, the Los Angeles Lakers are also working on getting a full bill of clean health. Anthony Davis is at the top of that priority list, along with Kendrick Nunn. While Nunn has experienced a setback recently in his recovery, the Lakers have received positive news regarding Davis as of late. He was cleared for full contact, per reports on Monday.
To ice the cake of this news, we got another positive update. Lakers reporter Mike Trudell provided his status going into Sunday’s road game against the Miami Heat:
Anthony Davis (left knee MCL sprain) has been upgraded to questionable for the Heat game on Sunday. He’ll be a game-time decision.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) January 22, 2022
Anthony Davis will continue his routine of pre-game work and make a decision, it appears. Should Davis make his 2022 debut, it’d be his first action since December 17th, 2021. On that day, Davis sprained his right MCL after a Timberwolves defender fell into his legs. He also suffered an ankle injury in the same game that took him off the floor briefly.
Including the loss suffered on the night of the injury, the Lakers have gone 7-10 since they lost AD. Luckily, the Western Conference’s seeds six through nine have nearly played the same level of basketball. The Lakers are making sure they avoid a situation like last season. It took a close win against the Golden State Warriors in the play-in to even get a playoff berth.
The Lakers will receive a huge boost on this Grammy road-trip in the form of Davis returning. Four of their next five opponents are in playoff contention: the Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks. If they can pick up some wins, they can gain some much-needed ground and rise from the 7th spot out West. However, it’ll be difficult especially given Davis will need a period of ramp-up to get back to 100%.
Davis is averaging 23.3 points and 9.9 rebounds in 27 games this year.
