Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis is not a fan of the narrative that he’s injury-prone, as he believes he’s suffered injuries that were out of his control during the 2021-22 season.
Davis has played in just 40 games for the Lakers this season, and he’s appeared in just 76 total games dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season.
“I had no injuries this year where it was, ‘Damn, that’s A.D.’s fault,'” Davis told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Someone falls into my leg, sprains my MCL. The same exact thing [Kevin Durant] had.”
The Lakers star being out of the lineup has hurt the team immensely in the 2021-22 campaign, and the Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the week.
Still, Davis believes in his training methods. He feels that his injuries were more freak incidents than a case of him actually being an injury-prone player. A longer offseason won’t make Davis re-evaluate his training methods.
“To be honest, my training methods were top tier,” Davis said. “I can’t control stepping on someone’s foot and I can’t control someone falling into my leg. It’s not like I’m out of shape and I f—ing did some crazy s— or it was anything I could control.”
Davis makes a good point, as he’s had some unfortunate luck in the 2021-22 season. However, that hasn’t made things easier on the Lakers or their fans.
Los Angeles is just 14-26 this season when Davis is out of the lineup. When he plays, the Lakers have been slightly better, but they are still just 31-49 in the 2021-22 campaign.
Now that the Lakers can’t make the playoffs and will have even more time off this coming offseason, fans are surely hoping that Davis will be able to have a bounce-back season during the 2022-23 campaign.
While the injuries have been frustrating, Davis has still been solid when he’s been in the lineup. The eight-time All-Star is averaging 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game this season while shooting 53.2 percent from the field.
If the Lakers are going to turn things around next season, Davis’ health will be one of the most important things for the team moving forward.
