Anthony Davis left Sunday night’s game with another injury to his left eye, but the Lakers are optimistic that he’ll be available Tuesday against Golden State, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Davis was hurt when Minnesota’s Kyle Anderson accidentally struck him in the face on a putback dunk late in the first quarter. He went to the locker room to have it examined and didn’t return.
“He’s extremely valuable,” coach Darvin Ham said. “Everyone around here knows that. Everything he brings on both sides of the ball, it’s tough. Already being without (LeBron James) and seeing him go out, it’s tough. But my hat’s off to our guys. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They kept competing all the way through.”
It’s the second eye issue in less than a month for Davis, who suffered a corneal abrasion in a March 16 game. McMenamin’s sources say Davis had to be treated by a specialist last month as his eye was swollen shut and his vision was impaired.
“I just couldn’t see,” Davis said of the original injury. “The corneal abrasion was actually right in the middle of my eye. It wasn’t like off to the side. So anytime I looked it was blurry. My eye was swollen. I thought my eye was like, [torn] open. But it wasn’t. It kept watering. It just felt like sand was in my eye.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- It’s still possible for the Lakers to escape the play-in tournament, but Sunday’s loss makes it much more difficult, McMenamin adds. At 45-34, L.A. is a game-and-a-half behind Phoenix and New Orleans, and trails Sacramento by a game in the loss column as well. D’Angelo Russell is confident about the team’s postseason prospects no matter where it ends up. “I think we just finish this season strong, finish these games strong and whoever we match up with, we go full force,” Russell said. “I don’t think we care about the teams that are doing well versus how they’re going to look in the playoffs. It’s experience versus inexperience in the playoffs, that kind of gets you over the hump. So I like our chances versus anybody.”
- With Davis sidelined, Jaxson Hayes played more than 32 minutes and provided 19 points, 10 rebounds and a career-best five steals. Hayes holds a $2.5MM player option for next season, and Russell believes he’ll have suitors if he decides to test free agency, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “He’s gonna make a lot of money this summer playing on this stage,” Russell said.
- On his latest Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst predicts that James will turn down his player option for next season and seek a no-trade clause in a new deal with the Lakers (hat tip to Bleacher Report). “If he extends the contract he’s in or picks up that option, extends onto it, he can’t get a no-trade clause,” Windhorst explains. “And I think for a number of different reasons, LeBron would like, ask for, and probably be granted a no-trade clause.”
The way these big guys play especially Anthony David everytime they go up you just worry they are going to come down and land awkwardly on that eye
The June draft will define not just Rob Pelinka’s tenure as an NBA GM but it will inevitably encapsulate his character, work ethic AND his testicular fortitude as a human male.