The Los Angeles Lakers need Anthony Davis back as soon as humanly possible. This has become an undeniable fact, especially considering how this team has looked since the All-Star break.

As it turns out, however, Lakers fans might not be getting their wish of AD returning in the immediate future. According to ESPN's NBA guru Adrian Wojnarowski, Davis is progressing well in his rehab from a foot sprain, but at this point, his return is not imminent:

“Anthony Davis is making progress on that mid-foot sprain that has kept him out since February 16th,” Woj started. “His walking boot is off and I'm told this week the next step now for him is he'll get on the court to do some stationary shooting. With 16 games left for the Lakers and the toughest schedule left in the league, the expectation is that they can still hang on to the play-in, get in the postseason and they could have Anthony Davis back.”

The fact that Davis is taking the right steps towards returning is a positive bit of news for the Lakers. However, based on Woj's statement here, it is clear that he won't be back anytime soon. It's been almost a month since AD went down, and the initial prognosis was that he was going to be re-evaluated in four weeks. That time has come and while some supporters were hoping to get AD back after this period, it now appears that the wait will be much longer.

“I think Anthony Davis, you know, he'll make more progress this week, they hope,” Woj continued. “He'll have another MRI which will be about four weeks out from the injury and the hope is that he can be then start progressing toward returning before the postseason begins.”

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Woj emphasizes here that the Lakers are “not punting on this season.” All hope is not lost on this team and they're now praying that LeBron James and the rest of the crew are able to keep the boat afloat until Davis returns. That is, that the Lakers will be able to maintain their position in the West, which as of right now, will put them in the play-in tournament. Clearly, that's easier said than done.