Report: Lakers ‘hope’ Anthony Davis will play again in the regular season

An NBA insider said that the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that they’ll be able to have their injured star Anthony Davis back before the conclusion of the regular season.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski appeared on the network’s “NBA Today” program and discussed the steep path the Lakers still face even if they do get Davis back before the playoffs.

“The Lakers are saying it’s a month before he’s re-evaluated,” said Wojnarowski. “I’m told the hope is they can at least get Anthony Davis back in the lineup and playing during the regular season.

“There’s only six weeks left in the season once we come out of All-Star break, and you have a Laker team right now in ninth place in the West, four games below .500. That’s trying to hold onto the play-in. So I think for the Lakers, they have to be able to find a way to hang in there, get a healthy Anthony Davis back before the postseason and then try to make a run. But they will have dug a pretty deep hole at that point to try to make a run in the postseason.”

Davis, who has been battling a number of different injuries for much of the last year, went down during the team’s game on Wednesday with a mid-foot sprain.

While the diagnosis was something of a relief, given how bad the injury first appeared, it still leaves a gaping hole in the Lakers lineup.

During the 2021-22 season, the 28-year-old Davis has played in just 37 of the team’s 58 games. In those games, the veteran forward was averaging 23.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per contest.

Yet, even with Davis in the lineup, the Lakers have had chemistry issues when it comes to integrating guard Russell Westbrook. The Lakers acquired the superstar guard during the offseason, but Westbrook was mentioned in trade talks leading up to last week’s deadline.

With a 27-31 record at the All-Star break, the Lakers have no margin for error over the rest of the regular season. That puts a huge burden on players like Westbrook, LeBron James and other members of the veteran-heavy roster.

Last season, the Lakers made a quick playoff exit, partly because of an injury to Davis. Right now, simply getting to the postseason is the team’s main goal.