Report: Anthony Davis potentially a week away from returning for Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis has been out for a while as he recovers from a stress injury in his right foot, but it seems like he’s on the cusp of a return.

“Anthony Davis is, as we speak right now, potentially a week away from returning,” said ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “He’s going to continue the ramp-up process, go through a couple full-fledged practices full court, and it’ll be all about how his body responds the next day. But, if he has everything continue to go the right way, he will be back playing for the Lakers next week at Crypto.com Arena and be with them for that entire road trip.”

The Lakers desperately need for Davis to return, as they’ve hit a bit of a rough patch lately, losing four of their last five games. They’ve gone just 8-9 in the 17 games that the University of Kentucky product has missed with the foot injury.

While the Lakers have been competitive in plenty of games during Davis’ absence, they have sorely missed the center’s abilities, and they surely would’ve snagged a few more wins with him in the lineup.

Prior to suffering the injury against the Denver Nuggets in the middle of December, Davis was having an MVP-caliber season with averages of 27.4 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.1 blocks per game on 59.4 percent shooting from the field.

He hadn’t missed many games during the early parts of the 2022-23 campaign after dealing with plenty of injury troubles over the past two seasons.

Just a few days ago, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Davis could return before the All-Star break, and it seems like that’s still on track to happen.

The Lakers have two games at home next week before going on the five-game road trip McMenamin alluded to. Those contests will be against the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs.

Due to their rough recent stretch, the Lakers are now 20-25 and in 13th place in the Western Conference. They are two games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in tournament spot and 2.5 games back of the Utah Jazz for the conference’s final guaranteed playoff spot.