Lakers Notes: Davis, Hachimura, Bronny, Hayes

Lakers star Anthony Davis has been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot since the end of last season, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). While Davis had to sit out Wednesday’s loss to Memphis, he’s listed as probable to play on Friday vs. Philadelphia and the team views the big man’s foot issue as a manageable one, Charania explains.

“This is a nagging heel injury that he’s been dealing with since the end of last season, over the summer, played with it in the Olympics,” Charania said (Twitter video link). “They’re confident there’s nothing structurally wrong there, but (it’s) something he’s going to have to manage, pain tolerance-wise. They’re hopeful that 24 to 48 hours off of that foot will help him going into (Friday).”

Having Davis available will be hugely important for the Lakers going forward. The nine-time All-Star is averaging a league-leading 32.6 points to go along with 11.6 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 1.7 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game through seven outings.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

• The Lakers should have more reinforcements beyond Davis for Friday’s contest. Forward Rui Hachimura, who was unavailable on Wednesday due to an illness, is considered probable to play tonight vs. the Sixers, according to the official injury report.
• The Lakers assigned Bronny James to the G League on Thursday and will recall him for Friday’s NBA game before sending him back to the South Bay Lakers for the team’s sold-out season opener on Saturday, per Charania (Twitter links). As Charania details, Los Angeles will shuttle the younger James back and forth frequently between the NBA and the NBAGL, but the plan for now is to have him play only in South Bay’s home games rather than traveling with the Lakers’ affiliate.
• The NBA never spoke to the woman who accused center Jaxson Hayes of domestic violence before closing their initial investigation into the case, reports Mark Fainaru-Wadu of ESPN. Waukeen McCoy, one of the attorneys for Hayes’ former girlfriend Sofia Jamora, tells ESPN that the NBA’s legal department called him and that he returned that phone call and left a message, but never heard back. “They didn’t follow up with me,” McCoy said. “If they were actually doing a thorough investigation, they would have reached out to her lawyer and obtained info from us.” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told ESPN that a league investigator “reached out multiple times” to Laura Stone, another of Jamora’s attorneys, and “did not receive a response to our outreach.” The NBA recently reopened its investigation into the incident when new video surfaced from TMZ.