Getty Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma.
After over two months away from the basketball court, Anthony Davis is poised to finally make his return. Barring a setback, he will be playing against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. This is excellent news for the Los Angeles Lakers as they’ve also been missing LeBron James for some time.
While LeBron is the clear MVP of the team, Davis is more than capable of leading the team to a lot of wins. It’s been so long since the big man has played that it’s easy to forget about him. Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma even referred to Davis as a “new player” after hearing the news.
Los Angeles has done a solid job of staying afloat without their two superstars. The team still holds onto the fifth seed in the Western Conference. With Davis back in the fold, the Lakers could start moving back up the standings. Last season, he was a borderline MVP candidate. He struggled a bit to start this season and it will be interesting to see if the extra time off will help him get back to playing at the level he did last season.
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Davis Offers Insight on Injury
When Davis first got injured, many expected the worse. Had he torn his Achilles, his season would’ve been over and it could’ve permanently affected him. Luckily, the injury wasn’t nearly that bad.
“I never tore an Achilles, but I kind of felt like sharp pain, like it was ripping, which I had never felt before,” Davis said. “… So I knew it was something serious. It wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but it was still a pretty significant injury.”
However, he did think that he tore it for a moment.
“I did think that I had probably partially torn it,” he said, “which I was definitely afraid.”
He’s very fortunate that he ended up all right. A man of his size would have a very hard time recovering from an injury like that.
Davis Talks Playing With Andre Drummond
Things are a bit different for the Lakers since Davis last played. The team has added two players in Andre Drummond and Ben McLemore. The former has taken over as Los Angeles’ starting center so the chemistry between him and Davis will be very important. Davis isn’t too worried about how they’ll fit together.
“I think it’s gonna be fairly quick for us to really adapt to each other because we both are guys who want to learn from each other and who want to win at the end of the day,” Davis said of Drummond. “And when you’ve got two guys who want to win, you find ways to make it happen.”
Having Davis and Drummond together could give the Lakers one of the best frontcourts in the NBA. Drummond hasn’t exactly lit up the scoreboard since joining the team but he’ll be helped by the return of Davis. Once LeBron is back, both big men will be significantly more effective.
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