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Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis will return to the lineup Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs barring any setbacks in his pre-game warmups.
Davis has been out since Dec. 16, when he suffered a stress reaction in his right foot while also fracturing a bone spur. Davis will be on a minutes restriction of 20-24 minutes.
Davis will be on a 20-24 minute restriction, easing back from an injury that had some medical personnel projecting an 8-10 week recovery timeframe. https://t.co/eH0aKTCrkH
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 25, 2023
Davis was playing arguably the best basketball of his career before he got hurt. He is averaging 27.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per game for the Lakers. More importantly, he managed to drag them out of the bottom the standings after they started the season 2-10. From that moment on, Davis led the Lakers to a 9-6 record up until his injury, all of this while LeBron James was out with injury. He averaged roughly 33 points per game in that stretch if you exclude the two games he left early.
Davis carried the Lakers when James was out. Since Davis went down, LeBron has returned the favor. Assuming Davis is back on Wednesday, the Lakers will have gone 11-10 and remained firmly in the play-in hunt at 22-26. James has averaged roughly 34 points per game since Davis went down. Key role players Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV also got injured during that stretch. James has played so well that it hasn’t mattered.
James and Davis have separately looked like the best player in the NBA for stretches of this season. Now they’re set to play together once again. The last time the two of them did so over a full season, the Lakers won a championship. They have a long way to go to reach that level again, but if it’s going to happen, it’s now looking like it will start on Wednesday against San Antonio.
The Los Angeles Lakers are at +180 to make the playoffs according to California sports-books. Davis returning to full strength should increase their chances in becoming a top six seed in the Western Conference.
