After initially being ruled out at least two or three weeks when he was diagnosed with a right calf strain on Monday, Lakers star Anthony Davis was reevaluated by team doctors on Thursday and has a new recovery timeline, head coach Frank Vogel told reporters last night.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers expect that Davis will miss approximately the next four weeks. That estimate includes the time it would take him to ramp up his conditioning once he’s healthy enough to resume workouts.
“We want to try to put this fully behind him and be conservative with it, just to make sure that it’s fully healed before he’s back,” Vogel said of Davis, who has also experienced Achilles tendinosis in his right leg.
The updated timeline ensures that Davis will remain out for the Lakers’ last seven first-half games and won’t be back on the court until at least a week into the second half, which gets underway on March 10. It will also sideline him for the March 7 All-Star Game, opening the door for another Western Conference player to replace him on the roster if he’s named a reserve, which is likely.
The Lakers figure to lean more heavily on the likes of Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Marc Gasol during Davis’ absence.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles also had to deal with a hole in its backcourt on Thursday night vs. Brooklyn, as Dennis Schröder was out due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Vogel said after the game that he’s not yet sure how much time Schröder will miss as a result of those COVID-19 protocols, per McMenamin (Twitter link).
There have been some instances of players receiving clearance within a day or two if they returned a false positive or inconclusive coronavirus test, or if they were subject to a contact tracing investigation and were determined not to have been a close contact of someone who tested positive for the virus.
However, if the player is determined to have been a close contact of someone who tested positive, he’s generally sidelined for at least a week. If the player registers a confirmed positive test himself, his return timeline is usually at least two weeks or so.
Wesley Matthews replaced Schröder in the Lakers’ starting lineup on Thursday. If Schröder has to sit for a week or two, Matthews, Alex Caruso, and Quinn Cook are among the top candidates to play extra minutes.
Probably one of the last few teams to be bitten by the injury and COVID bug.
Luckily for them, it’s only the regular season. Having a healthy Lebron & AD in the playoffs, regardless of seeding, is the only thing that matters for the LAKERS.
That being said, Rich Paul has probably been given his marching orders to draw-up a Klutch contingency plan, just in case AD ‘s injury leave gets extended.
Don’t count on AD being back anytime soon. Those injuries can last a long time. Without AD they are like every team in the west in a dog fight for a playoff spot. They had a easy schedule the second half schedule will be much tougher.
This puts even more pressure on LeBron defensively since neither Harrell nor Kuzma can even remotely replace AD on that side of the court.
Agreed.. kuzma is better defensively this year but not a great defensive player.either is harrell.. last year they had bigs blocking shots now this year instead of contesting they try to draw charges.. teams are attacking the rim at will
Warriors fans are the type of people to say the Lakers had an “easy schedule” last postseason so it’s not surprising they say that now. Lakers are the defending champions, other teams worry about them not the other way around lmao. Any excuse to reduce LeBron and your rival’s accomplishments.
Austin Rivers could be a good trade target for the Lakers maybe?
He would be great, but Lakers dont have picks for him. Trading Kuzma or THT would be too much
NYK has no reason to help LA in any way but I was thinking Mathews could be a more useful piece to NY than LA. Same with Rivers, but vice versa. With this value tier of players its hard getting picks out of them, why not a lateral move instead of waivers. I wouldn’t pay a 2nd for Rivers or Mathews, but they are solid NBA players.
They need size above all..
Indeed, concern 1,2 and 3 should be a viable center who doesnt have his feet bolted to the floor
Injuries are more mental than we give credit for.
Lakers should make sure AD is comfortable before bringing him back. Even if you have to baby him more than most players
Lakers are 4-7 vs teams over 500.. people say they are coasting.. I think they are in big trouble.. last year they won with size.. this year way too many pts in the paint.. too much switching on defense leaving the rim exposed.. too many uncontested wide open 3 pt shots.. vogel needs to figure it out.. tht needs to sit.. they have figured out his 360 spin to rim layup.. he’s now missing those and is getting torched on defense.. kcp needs to be put on bench.. he’s playing like ankle monitor Kcp.. gasol needs to retire.
facts..they had a first half easy schedule two years in a row..lets see how they do next week lol
I knew they should have just rested him for 6-8 weeks to fully heal. Drop to a #3 seed and come back full force. He’s gonna get injured again this season watch
They should also be extremely concerned with LeBron’s health now that he will be forced into carrying the team all by himself as long as AD remains out. Who knows how bad things will get for them if something were to happen with him too.
Lebron was carrying lakers before Ad went down. Lakers should be very concerned.. all this talk about short turnaround time.. avg time off was 3 months from finals to training camp.. this year it was 72 days.. 18 days sooner.. in bubble they played every other game and did zero travel..so they weren’t taxed physically.. more taxed mentally
I know most fans hate the idea of load management, but LBJ has played in every game this season including 4 pairs of B2B sets. They also have one more B2B right before the AS break. And unless he decides to sit out the ASG in which he is one of the captains, he won’t get much rest then either.
Even though both LeBron and most of his fans seem to think that he is made of steel, he missed a lot of games last year and the same thing will happen this year if they’re not careful.
Tht is also shooting 26% from 3 with 51% 2 pt fg. That % is skewed because the majority are drives to the rim for layups.. league has adjusted to him and he’s looking overmatched.. his pct last 10 games supports that..so he’s making half of his layups.. not a very high pct. Montrezl harell is 65% at rim..
Yup, league has countered, time to better develop that 4-6 ft floater now or he’s going to lead the league in charges per 36
Welp, your ’20-21 MVP Steph Curry has been doing everything he can by himself with absolutely zero help and no one even over 6’7″, and has GSW at a 16-13 record, lets see what Bronbron does under similar circumstances!
Wiggins averaging 18 ppg. Oubre 14 ppg.. I wouldn’t quite say no help..
Sure but on defense there’s no better player out there than Curry.
AD is best 4 in the game. But he always gets banged up it seems. Lakers can’t win it without him. Better make sure he heals I guess. Kuzma needs to step up with rest of vets. This is their chance to show up, they are needed. This is the Clippers, Blazers, Jazz even Suns chance to add wins. Not good for Lakers
Kuzma has been absolutely amazing dont listen to the crowd watch for yourself
I would hardly consider 11 pts, 6 rebounds and 1 assist average amazing. Averaging 25 minutes. He’s also 6’10. He commits a lot of turnovers.. last night he turned it over 3 times in a row…Harrell is averaging 13 pts 6 rebounds one assist as undersized 6’8 center 24 mins a game.. Jordan Clarkson is averaging 18 pts 4 rebs and 2 asst as a 6’4 guard off the bench.. 26 mins.. that’s amazing..
Stats wont tell the tale, he started horrible, he doesnt get the mins, he gets zero usage or plays drawn up, hes on a super crowded team
This one needs to go to the eye test – Last 18 games (ish) hes been absolutely amazing…I mean even 15/9 per 36 IS great stats as the guy who gets the 4th/5th best usage on a championship caliber team
Super crowded? Hardly. Kuzma will get as many minutes as he can handle with AD out for a month. Plus Gasol hasn’t exactly been an upgrade over McGee, has he? And Montrezl won’t even be in the conversation for the 6th man award this season. I wouldn’t count on Markieff being any better than Gasol, Harrell, and Kuzma either.
WALL—- Super crowded indeed, no team has consistently ran an 11 man rotation like LAL
Convos- not about this next upcoming month
Are you really bundling Markieef and Gasol with living creatures like Kuzma/Harrell …..Pass on moving further
Lakes—–Your cherrypicking Clarkson, the probable 2021 6th man of the year- Its going to be an uphill battle showing Kuzmas worth if your putting him up againt “best in league” at his said “6th man job ”
Time will tell, hes very inconsistent ill give you that, he’s on a heater right now ill admit, but your fooling yourself If you think Vogel isnt super happy with the job hes done the last 20 games. National media has caught wind too and there ALWAYS 10 -15 games behind the home crowd. T
Clarkson has been a 6th man since his days as a laker. Kuzma is too busy wondering what his role is instead of just playing.. that may be on vogel.. or he could be a player that just goes out and does it without direction.. the real problem is the uncontested 3’s.. last night as an example I counted at least 9 made 3’s with zero contest.. defenders just allowing them to shoot.. that’s on vogel.. his rotations aren’t working and he needs to bench Kcp and pull tht from rotation.. kid is getting exposed big time.. maybe sign a center like dedmon or re acquire boogie. Gasol is done..
Rotations will change indeed in time
At this point its just a dog paddle the next 7 games and get some rest…nothing will be figured out by then- I was hoping 4-4 before last night, we’d be just fine with that. Just a hunch but they may end up swapping Kuzma and Kcp 2nd half and getting Kuzma closer to 30 mins if the tides dont change soon
I thought Vogel did a good job of tightening the roation about 11 games ago, then we got our spell of inj/covid that we hadnt before and here we are now in flux….every teams deals with it there are no easy answers
Kuzma playing 25 mins a game.. 7 less than Ad and 9 less then lebron.. he’s also playing against teams 2nd units.. he’s playing better but he’s still not a great defender and his scoring needs to be consistent.. Clarkson has one game under 10 pts in same amount of minutes.. kuzma has 11.. he’s paid to score and rebound.. kuzma is 6’10 he better rebound
lakers has no one anchoring the defense, with AD being sidelined. they need a player like draymond green… because their no. 1 defensive rating got exposed vs the nets!
So many Lebron h8rs its comical honesty it makes me laugh…the guy knows everything on the court. If anyone can figure it out it is that man. Vogel is no idiot either.
The lakers are the champs. What do you think would happen if you fell asleep on a Lake?
Dont do it…
Nobody will sleep imo
I get the hate/hes super polarizing but if you at least don’t appreciate his game when the balls tipped your missing out big time
This would be a huge blow for the Lakers if seeding mattered and if Bron wasn’t ironman spending millions a year on his body. Could actually prove to be a good thing getting AD rest.