Anthony Davis left Sunday night’s game against the Nuggets with an Achilles injury.
Davis was driving to the basket in the second quarter when he apparently suffered the injury. He walked out of bounds to recover for a bit, and then went to the free throw line. He shot his free throws, but it was clear he was in pain. After the final free throw, the Lakers team intentionally fouled in order to get Davis out of the game.
Davis exited for the locker room and did not return to the game. The team officially listed him with a right Achilles strain.
“Just overall safety and health of him,” LeBron James said asked about Davis’ injury. “That’s my only concern watching him shuffle off the floor and get back into the locker room. We were playing some great basketball up until then.”
The Lakers are off Monday, and Davis will get an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. The Lakers return Tuesday night against the Timberwolves before a big matchup on Thursday against the Nets.
Anthony Davis injury update
Davis missed a pair of games against the Thunder earlier this month with tendonosis of his right Achilles’ tendon. Monday night’s game was just his second after returning from the injury, and then re-aggravated it on that play.
Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis re-aggravated his right Achilles tendonosis and there’s some swelling, source tells ESPN. He will get an MRI on Monday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 15, 2021
As of right now, it’s difficult to determine just how serious the injury is. The Lakers will have an MRI done on Davis on Monday morning, and that will tell us more about the injury.
“I mean, you kind of learn a lot from the MRI, so kind of just waiting on that,” Davis told reporters after Sunday’s game. “Obviously, the doctors don’t want to rule out anything and then it’s something, or say it’s something, then it’s not. But they say everything looks good, but you still want the MRI just to make sure.”
How long is Anthony Davis out?
This injury forced Davis to miss two games earlier this month, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him miss some more games. Although we’ll know more about the length once the MRI results are in.
Even though he re-aggravated the injury and was questionable heading into the game, Davis didn’t feel like he rushed back.
“I felt great coming back the first time against Memphis, and I’m gonna do the same thing, the same steps to get it back right,” Davis said. “Obviously, be a little more smarter with it, like I was smart the first time, but even more smarter. Up the treatment more — instead of three times a day, maybe five times a day just trying to get it back where it needs to be done out there and help the team.”