Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis spoke to the media on Wednesday following the team's 14th practice of the season. Davis has remained around the Lakers since re-aggravating his calf/Achilles, but the unannounced Zoom was his first time speaking to reporters in roughly two months.
After sitting out the past 30 games, Davis is expected to return to the starting lineup on Thursday to face the Dallas Mavericks, if he's not sore in the morning.
The Lakers have hung tough without him and LeBron James. They're 14-16 since Davis went down, and 7-9 since James sprained his ankle. Davis guessed that James will be out “a couple more weeks or so.” Until then, “it’s gonna be my job to help the team stay afloat until he comes back. But this team has done more than we could ask for,” he said.
Davis provided insight into his recovery, silver linings, and more. Here's a roundup:
1) Davis is “100 percent” healthy
AD's road to recovery lasted considerably longer than the initial timetable of “four-to-six weeks.”
“After four weeks, I was doing some tests on the leg and had to stop cause it was painful.”
Encouragingly, Davis “revisited those tests three or four days ago” and “felt completely fine.” He was then cleared to begin “playing through contact and getting up and down.” He said he played about 45 minutes yesterday before participating in a full practice Thursday.
“I just wanted to make sure it was 100 percent when I came back…It wouldn’t be fair to myself, it wouldn’t be fair to my team.”
“I feel 100 percent healthy, I feel great,” he stated.
2) It could have been much worse
“I don’t want to have to go through this over and over for the rest of the season, let alone the rest of my career,” he said.
The Lakers didn't shut him down when he first experienced pain. Thankfully, they were more cautious this time.
“I think the first time I did it — in maybe late January, I started feeling it — I wasn’t 100 percent when I was coming back, but I didn’t think it was this big of an issue,” Davis admitted. “Then, on Feb. 14 in Denver, I felt something I never felt before, as far as pain. That’s how I knew it was probably something serious.”
Davis feared it was something much worse.
“I felt pain there before, just going through the process the first time I injured it, but the second time, I hate to say it but, I've never, knock on wood, torn an Achilles. But, I kind of felt like a sharp pain, like it was ripping, which I never felt before…So I knew it was something serious. I mean it wasn’t as serious as it could’ve been. But it was still a pretty significant injury.”
“I don’t wanna say I thought it was a full tear…but I did think that I probably partially tore it or something like that, which I was definitely afraid of.”
L.A. avoided disaster. Now, as the rest of the league struggles with wear-and-tear, the defending champions are getting healthier.
“A lot of guys around the league aren’t healthy. For us, for the most part, to be healthy…I think we put ourselves in a good position.”
3) Davis has no chemistry concerns
“It’s kind of like starting all over again,” Davis said about the re-integration process. “We’re adding new guys — Dre, Ben — that me and Bron haven’t played with…but we’re going to figure it out for sure.”
“It looked good in practice, and hopefully it translates to the game.”
Davis has limited experience hooping with Drummond for USA Basketball. Vogel noted that AD's time with Dwight Howard in 2019-20 will come in handy, too.
“Dre’s a good adapter. We had a couple plays today in practice where we connected,” Davis said. “He’s always asking questions…He’s always trying to learn, knowing that when I’m on the floor, his role changes a little bit.”
“We’re both guys who want to learn from each other and want to win.”
4) AD got his Jared Dudley on (in a good way)
Davis stayed “mentally engaged” in basketball by taking on a Dudley-esque role from the sidelines. The big-man been as vocal and professorial as anybody on the sidelines and has often been seen with an iPad in his hand and coaching up his teammates.
“Being like another coach. Helping the guys. I think that’s kind of how I stayed engaged and got my fix of not being able to play … Breaking down the games and different plays … it helped me become a better leader, a vocal leader…Just talking to the guys, helping them out. It was good for me, but also I think it was good for them — to hear my voice and not just sit back and watch when I’m not playing…I kind of just tried to be that Duds of the team when I was out, and I'm going to continue to do that, even if I’m playing.”
As far as physical conditioning, there's nothing Davis can do besides play.
“No matter what you do, you can’t emulate basketball shape, game shape. That's just gonna take time…as far as the rust and stuff, that just comes naturally. I felt good the last couple weeks. Felt good in practice today as far as passing, shot-making, and things like that. I thought it was gonna be something drastic but it wasn’t. It just comes with reps…maybe a couple of games, it’ll take.”
Davis will be on a 15-minute limit as he ramps up his conditioning, per Vogel.
5) He expressed disappointment about the shocking news that Kobe Bryant's estate and Nike have ended their partnership.
“It was tough to see. Not sure if it’s final…I don’t all know the details of everything, the ins and outs. But just to see that definitely hurts. It makes me think about which Kobes I want to wear and debut, or do I wanna just keep 'em tucked for my own personal possessions? But it’s tough to see.”
Davis wore more Kobes than any other player in the bubble.
“Hopefully they figure it out and keep it going, I know a lot of people would love to see it.”
6) Davis also shared his reaction to the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict
“We haven’t discussed it as a team. Obviously, I think a lot of people in the world are happy with the verdict. Just being able to give that family peace of mind. It was a first step for justice. I saw a lot of tweets and posts and everything on social media — ‘why are people getting excited for justice when that’s what it seems like it’s supposed to be? That’s supposed to happen. He murdered someone, that’s what’s supposed to happen.’
I think it was a good day just for the world to be able to get justice … cause you see so many times where it doesn’t happen. And so, for us to be able to see that — everything that we’ve been fighting for the past year and a half, two years, and we’re starting to see it change a little bit, and that’s all we ask for. And continuing to change, not just with this, but everything else that’s going on in the world. Killings are still happening and we want justice for that too.
I think it was a good day for me personally, a good day for the Black community, being able to see that…I think it was definitely a good step to accountability and for justice.”
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