The Los Angeles Lakers will be without Anthony Davis for at least a month as he nurses a sprained left knee.
The team officially announced the diagnosis on Davis on Saturday after he exited Friday’s game against the Timberwolves. Davis went down midway through the third quarter after being rolled into by Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels.
Lakers star Anthony Davis has MCL sprain in left knee and will miss at least four weeks, team says.
He hobbled to the sideline and made his way down the tunnel. However, Davis stumbled and sat on the floor once he got a few steps down. Davis was already nursing the knee and had it looked at twice this week. He missed two games with left knee soreness.
Laker coach Frank Vogel said that Davis would be evaluated when they landed in Chicago. His Los Angeles co-star LeBron James was worried about the big man following the game.
“My concern is always for his health,” James said. “You always wish for the best for any of your teammates but especially a guy like AD. So you wish for the best and leave it up to the man above’s hands.”
With the four-week return schedule, Davis will miss 13 games if his absence lasts a month.
Lakers Shorthanded at Center Following Davis’ Injury
With Davis injured and Dwight Howard in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the Browns are extremely shorthanded when it comes to their big man rotation. More will fall on the shoulders of DeAndre Jordan and two-way player Jay Huff.
The Lakers had a tough time containing Minnesota big man Karl Anthony-Towns on Friday, even when Davis was in the game.
“I think their whole team was more physical, not just KAT,” Laker coach Frank Vogel said. “Look at the boards. They had 15 offensive rebounds, we had one. They definitely played a more physical brand of basketball tonight and we got to be better.”
It also led to a large rebounding discrepancy, which James pointed out.
“They had 15 offensive rebounds, mostly by Jarred [Vanderbilt]. We missed a lot of shots, we don’t do a good job offensive rebounding ourselves,” James said. “Obviously when we’re not playing the big lineup, we don’t get a lot of extra shots so most of those were defensive. They had 61 rebounds, 46 of them were defensive rebounds so they good a job of cleaning the glass that we missed.”
Lakers Roster in Flux With COVID-19 Issues
The Lakers currently have six players in the league’s health and safety protocols. That list includes: Austin Reaves, Malik Monk, Avery Bradley,Talen Horton-Tucker, Howard and Kendrick Nunn.
“It’s craziness,” Vogel said. “I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s not like anything I’ve seen before or dealt with before as a coach, coming into games and guys just in and out of the lineups like this.”
The Lakers face the Bulls on Sunday, a squad that has had their own issues with COVID-19 recently. Chicago had their last two games postponed with 10 players in the health and safety protocols but will be getting back Coby White, Javonte Green and DeMar DeRozan.
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Lakers Announce Devastating Injury Diagnosis for Anthony Davis