Another season, another slow start for the Los Angeles Lakers. After getting blown out 128-94 by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, the Lakers' record through their first eight games sits at just 3-5, and their start to this campaign has been quite reminiscent of last season's when they won just two of their first 12 games. Not helping matters in their game against the Rockets was that Anthony Davis was ruled out just before tip-off with left hip spasms.

Davis has had a solid start to the season (23.9 PPG, 12 RPG, 3.3 APG, 55.3 FG%) despite the fact he remains an oft-criticized piece of the Lakers operation. As we can clearly see with the result of their game against the Rockets, though, Los Angeles needs Davis on the floor if they want to win games, and it sounds like they are hopeful he will be able to return to action for their upcoming in-season tournament contest against the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

“The Lakers are hopeful that Davis will play in the road trip finale Friday in Phoenix, sources said, which doubles as L.A.'s first group-play game of the in-season tournament.” – Dave McMenamin, ESPN

Lakers desperately need Anthony Davis to stay on the court for them

anthony davis lakers

While the Lakers have worked on building up their depth around Davis and LeBron James, without either one of these guys on the floor, they struggle mightily to reach their peak performance. That's not outrageously surprising given how good of players they are, but in order to break their way out of this cold start to the season, Los Angeles needs Davis healthy.

The hope is that these hip spasms will go away over the next few days to allow him to take the floor against the high-powered Suns, who are also having their own injury issues to start the year. Davis' injury wasn't the only reason for Los Angeles' loss to Houston, but the longer he stays on the sidelines, the more trouble the Lakers could be in as the season progresses.