Three weeks ago Anthony Davis suffered a mid-foot sprain that promised to keep him out of action for at least a month.
Since his exit, the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled mightily. They are 27-39 on the year, desperately clinging to ninth place in the Western Conference.
Record-wise, LA is currently closer to the 12th place San Antonio Spurs than eighth place Los Angeles Clippers. And given that the Lakers have LeBron James, while the Clippers have been without Kawhi Leonard all year and Paul George for large swaths of the season, that is a particularly jarring fact.
The Lakers badly need Davis back. And on Saturday, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowksi provided a vital health update about the oft-injured big man.
Woj says on “NBA Countdown” that Lakers big man Anthony Davis is making progress on his foot sprain#NBATwitter #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/BnejI98QGI
— 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣’ 𝙉𝘽𝘼 🗣️ (@_Talkin_NBA) March 13, 2022
“Anthony Davis is making progress on that mid-foot sprain that has kept him out since February 16th,” he said on NBA Countdown.
“His walking boot is off and I’m told this week the next step now for him is he’ll get on the court to do some stationary shooting. With 16 games left for the Lakers and the toughest schedule left in the league, the expectation is that they can still hang on to the play-in, get in the postseason and they could have Anthony Davis back.”
While it’s good that the boot is off, Wojnarowski’s report also makes it clear that a return isn’t exactly imminent.
“I think Anthony Davis, you know, he’ll make more progress this week, they hope,” he continued. “He’ll have another MRI which will be about four weeks out from the injury and the hope is that he can be then start progressing toward returning before the postseason begins.”
This has been a frustrating year for Davis and everyone around him. Legends are calling him out for always being hurt; world-renowned rappers are making videos openly clowning him; and rumors of LA trading him to the Chicago Bulls are louder than ever.
Intensifying the stress levels has been just how awful the Lakers have been this season. Even when he was on the court, Davis couldn’t lead them to consistent victories. It has just been one embarrassing thing after another, including his own teammates seemingly contributing to his health woes.
The photos speak for themselves. https://t.co/q9k3usmJRf
— Game 7 (@game7__) March 13, 2022
The Lakers are down bad right now and could use all the help they can get. That said – it’s hard to see Davis’ return changing this squad’s fortunes all that much.
They are a middling, struggling group with him or without him. So he may as well nurse his injury until it’s fully healthy, because this is looking like a lost season for the Lakers no matter what.
Related: Devin Booker’s Brutal Message For Anthony Davis After Suns Win
Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
