The Los Angeles Lakers' skid continued with a 115-103 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday night. After starting the season 3-0 under new head coach JJ Redick, the team is 1-3 on its current five-game road trip. To make matters worse, Anthony Davis re-aggravated a foot injury in Detroit that has been bothering him since the summer.
Davis has not yet been ruled out of the team's upcoming matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, but will be considered day-to-day, according to Dave McMenamin.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, Davis went up to try and block a shot by Ron Holland II and landed on the rookie's foot. Davis immediately took all the weight off his left foot and briefly leaned on the basket stanchion for support. As he made his way up the floor, he did so gingerly.
On the ensuing possession, Davis dove to the rim, and was fouled as he went up for a layup. He landed on his left foot again and grabbed for it as he sat on the ground.
Davis remained in for the remainder of the game, and finished with 37 points, nine rebounds and four assists in another big effort. After the contest, though, he acknowledged that he wasn't feeling 100%.
"I'll talk to my trainer and just kind of figure out what exactly is going on," Davis said. "I've been managing it since this summer, honestly, and my goal for every game is to be on the floor. And I just kind of landed directly on the spot that's been killing me. So, we'll figure it out."
Davis has been incredible to start the season. He's currently leading the league in scoring at 32.6 points per game, and is adding 11.6 rebounds, three assists, 1.6 steals and 1.7 blocks on 57.1% shooting. Aside from assists, where he's fourth, he leads the Lakers in all major categories.
It goes without saying that losing him for any period of time would be a catostrophic blow to a Lakers team that is already top heavy. Los Angeles' bench is averaging just 18.9 points per game, which is not only last in the league, but would be historically bad.
To put that in perspective, the worst bench in the league last season, the Phoenix Suns, put up 26.6 points a night. You have to go back to the 2017 Minnesota Timberwolves (22.8) to find a reserve unit that failed to average at least 25 points. The 2013 Trail Blazers (18.5) were the last team to have a bench that didn't score at least 20 points a night.
Simply put, the Lakers need Davis out there to remain a competitive team in the crowded Western Conference. They don't have anyone who can make up for his production, especially now that LeBron James is nearing 40 years old.
"I don't play the 'if' game," James said when asked about Davis' status. "We'll go off what AD says and see how he feels over the next couple of days and go from there. But it don't take a rocket scientist to know [the impact] if AD's in or out. C'mon."
