Los Angeles Lakers star striker Anthony Davis had his injuries reevaluated by the team’s doctors on Thursday night and will be out for four weeks, head coach Frank Vogel said.
Sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski earlier this week that Davis will be reevaluated in two to three weeks after suffering a calf strain and worsening Achilles tendonitis in his right leg on Sunday and that he is unlikely to returns to the group before March 5-10 of the NBA All-Star Break.
“We want to try to put everything behind him and be conservative, just to make sure he’s completely healed before he comes back,” Vogel said.
A Lakers spokesman said the new four-week period is an estimate and includes the time it would take for Davis to rehabilitate and recover from calf strain and right Achilles tendonitis, as well as intensify in practices and training. to return to the action of the game.
“He’s doing exactly what he needs to do to get back to the best health he can be,” LeBron James said. “He has an injury that he can’t mess with too much, and as an organization, as teammates, as me as his brother, he has our full support. So take your time as long as he needs to.”
Davis missed two games last week with a right Achilles tendonitis and had to leave Sunday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets shortly before the break after the injury worsened.
An MRI on Monday revealed the calf’s stem and worsening of the tendonosis, a source told Wojnarowski, but did not show a rupture of the right Achilles tendon.
James and Davis spent the final minutes of the Lakers’ 109-98 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, sitting together on the corner of the field, deep in conversation, as the Nets put the finishing touches on the victory.
“When I go to the sidelines, we’re talking about the game, that possession, that half, that part,” James said. “What can I do better? He sees something I could have done better? He sees some things we could have done better? Because he’s still a great extension of our real team, even if he’s not in uniform “So nothing is changing, though.”
The Lakers are 1-2 in the last three games, including Sunday’s loss to Denver, when Davis aggravated his right leg and have seven more games in the next two weeks before the All-Star break.
When asked how LA will continue to try to stay at the top of the standings for a month without Davis, James said he remains focused on what lies ahead.
“I really didn’t think that far, to be honest,” he said. “I take it every day. We play every two days. I don’t get a chance to look four weeks in advance … I have to stay in this moment … Stay down and keep shooting. I didn’t even think so much much to what it looks like in four weeks from now. “