LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers got back in the win column on Friday with a 116-106 win against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, with Anthony Davis leading the way with a game-high 31 points as he made his return from injury. With the Lakers next game coming up on Sunday against the Toronto Raptors, Davis was once again on the Lakers injury report.
Anthony Davis is officially listed as probable on the team’s injury report with left plantar fasciitis. During the Lakers’ recent five-game road trip, the team had been listing Davis on the report as dealing with a heel issue.
Following the team’s game against the Sixers, head coach JJ Redick acknowledged to reporters that Davis had officially been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and that it’s been a lingering issue going back to the offseason.
“I was kind of aware he had dealt with plantar fasciitis at different points in time during the summer and preseason. I didn’t recognize, I guess, the correlation between what I thought was more of an ankle thing in Detroit vs. just kind of like a nagging thing,” Redick said. “Just getting that extra rest would be helpful, and it looked like it was.”
The Lakers had hoped that Davis’ getting 48 hours of rest would improve his chances of being available for Friday’s game against the Sixers, and it ended up working.
Anthony Davis’ playing MVP-level basketball for Lakers
Despite the ongoing injury issues, Anthony Davis has been absolutely brilliant for the Lakers to begin the 2024-25 season. He is an early candidate for both the MVP award and the Defensive Player of the Year award.
After sitting out against the Memphis Grizzlies for the Lakers’ final game of their road trip, Davis returned to the lineup on Friday to the tune of 31 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. He shot 11-of-20 from the field and 2-of-3 from the three-point line.
Following the game, Austin Reaves spoke about how he’s no longer surprised by the brilliance that is Davis and how it’s amusing that he doesn’t seem to get much credit for his stellar play.
“I’ve been lucky enough to see it for three years now, and I know the media goes crazy when he has one bad game. But I feel like for three years he’s been very dominant. And when he does stuff like this, it doesn’t surprise me,” Reaves said. “I think he would have to get like 45 and 20 to be like, ‘oh, he really dominated,’ even though he dominates every game. I just feel like it’s kind of what I expect from him because he’s so good.”
Through the Lakers’ first nine games of the season, Davis has been averaging a league-leading 32.4 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.0 blocked shots with splits of 56.9 percent shooting from the field, 26.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 79.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
While his three-point percentage isn’t very efficient this season, Davis mentioned that he wants to shoot consistentlyDavis mentioned back during camp that he wants to shoot consistently from three-point range.