MY ACCOUNT
Anthony Davis completed his first full practice since sustaining a foot injury last month and is listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Lakers star Davis went down with three minutes remaining in the second quarter of the 106-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on February 16 and has not played since.
Los Angeles have gone 4-12 in their 16 games since then but head coach Frank Vogel revealed Davis is nearing a return to the floor – though he expects it to take him some time to get back up to speed.
“Positive sign. He went through full practice. Did all of our drill work and some live scrimmaging,” said Vogel.
“We’re at a point now where it’s really about how he responds to that and the level of soreness he has coming out of his first live work. He’ll also be listed as doubtful for tomorrow.
“He’s got to get his legs under him – that’s the biggest thing. When you have a foot injury like this it’s not as easy to do all your running and stay in shape like if you had a wrist injury or something like that, so that’s definitely going to take time.
“And because of that you have to be more cautious with the return to play. Because if you throw him out there and he doesn’t have his wind, then the injury becomes compromised or you overcompensate in some way and you don’t want that.
“So there’s definitely going to be a stretch here when we get him back where he’s still getting his legs under him.”
LeBron James, who was absent for two of the games Davis missed, is also doubtful to face the Mavericks due to a left ankle injury sustained in the 116-108 defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, which saw the Lakers blow a 23-point lead.
“He definitely has some swelling from the ankle sprain and we’ll list him as doubtful tomorrow. He stayed back from practice today to get some treatment on it,” said Vogel.
Davis and James have only played together 21 times this season and Vogel said it was typical of the campaign that the wait to pair them may be prolonged by the latter’s injury.
“It’s been that type of year. Definitely snakebitten with trying to get those guys on the floor together. I think it’s 17 or 18 games for the season [that James has missed] and it looks like it could be more than that now,” said Vogel.
“It’s out of our control. It’s unfortunate, but we have to lock in and again, like we’ve done all season, shift our identity on the floor with regard to who’s in and who’s out.”
The Lakers are 31-43 on the season and occupy the final play-in spot in the Western Conference with eight regular-season games remaining.
