Anthony Davis, LeBron James Return On Friday

APRIL 1: Coach Frank Vogel said Davis will play on Friday, per Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link). James will play as well, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. The Lakers face the Pelicans at 9:30pm CT.


MARCH 31: Lakers star Anthony Davis intends to return Friday against the Pelicans as long as there are no setbacks, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also reports (via Twitter) that LeBron James is going to test his sprained left ankle in an effort to return to action with Davis. Wojnarowski listed Davis as a game-time decision, but he apparently plans to play. Both players are out Thursday versus Utah, Wojnarowski tweets.

Davis last played on February 16, when he suffered a right mid-foot sprain. A report earlier this week indicated he was hoping to return this weekend. Through 37 games this season (35.1 MPG), Davis is averaging 23.1 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG and 2.3 BPG on .537/.182/.709 shooting.

It has been a strange season for Davis in a number of ways, as he hasn’t made his usual impact defensively, and his marks from three-point range (since he started attempting them semi-regularly in 2015/16) and the free throw line are both career-lows. However, he’s shooting a career-best .578 on two-pointers.

After appearing in 36 of 72 contests last season, he’s had another injury-played season in 2021/22, appearing in 37 of 75 games.

James, meanwhile, injured his ankle Sunday in the team’s loss at New Orleans, saying it felt “horrible” at the time. He was subsequently granted permission to leave the team’s road trip and return to Los Angeles for treatment and evaluation of the injury.

At 37 years old, James is averaging 30.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.3 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .523/.359/.756 shooting through 55 games (37.2 MPG). He currently leads the league in scoring, but needs to play at least three more games to qualify for the scoring title.

Friday’s matchup with the Pelicans will be crucial for the Lakers as they attempt to make the play-in tournament. The Pelicans (33-43) are the current No. 9 seed in the West, while the Lakers (31-44) trail by one-and-a-half games. Both teams are trying to fend off the Spurs (31-45) to secure a chance to make the playoffs.

If the Lakers and Spurs finish the season with an identical record, the Spurs would hold the tiebreaker and advance to the play-in tournament due to a better conference record (21-25 for the Spurs, compared to 16-29 for the Lakers).

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