Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis tweaked his hip during the team’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, leaving his status in question for the second game of the Lakers’ back-to-back against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said that the team will “play it by ear” when it comes to Davis,’ LeBron James’ and Jarred Vanderbilt’s statuses for Wednesday’s contest.
Darvin Ham said the team will “play it by ear” when it comes to the availability of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt for the second night of the back-to-back tomorrow in San Antonio. Davis will be evaluated by the medical staff after appearing to tweak his hip.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 13, 2023
It’s not a good sign for the Lakers that Davis is dealing with an injury, as he’s missed time over the last few seasons with different ailments. The team does not need him facing an extended absence, so it may want to play things safe with his injury.
Davis had a big game on Tuesday night, scoring a team-high 37 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field (1-for-2 from 3-point range) against Dallas. He also added 11 rebounds and two blocks.
The Lakers star shared more about the injury after the game, saying that he tweaked it in the team’s In-Season Tournament game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
Anthony Davis details his left hip/groin injury, telling reporters that he tweaked it in the Indiana game on Saturday and it flared up in Dallas too pic.twitter.com/DawUaKWFoB
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 13, 2023
“Day-to-day seeing how I feel,” Davis said of the injury. “Wasn’t sure about tonight, just went to go test it out pregame, felt good. Had some moments in the game where I felt it – kind of tweaked again, but just gotta see how I feel going forward.”
Davis also shared that he thought he was past the injury, as it had previously been fine. He missed a game earlier this season with the hip/groin ailment.
“The first time that I felt it or tweaked it again was Saturday against Indiana,” Davis said. “So, it was about a three-week stretch where I felt completely fine, felt normal, had no problems.”
It doesn’t seem like the injury is serious, as Davis was able to play through it against Indiana and Dallas. Still, it’s something that the Lakers need to monitor as the season progresses to make sure that the star big man is healthy for the stretch run and eventually the playoffs.
This season, Davis is averaging 23.3 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field.
He and LeBron James are showing why they are such a tough duo to stop, leading the Lakers to a 14-10 record in their first 24 games and NBA In-Season Tournament title.
Hopefully, Davis won’t have to miss any major time with the injury.
