The Los Angeles Lakers are surely ecstatic to welcome LeBron James and Anthony Davis back into the fold.

Davis (Achilles/calf) has been out since Feb. 14, James (ankle) since March 20. Since LeBron went down, the Lakers have scrapped for seven wins in 16 games, signed a starting center and backup wing, and dealt with a rash of injuries and lineup alterations.

Fortunately, the Lakers won't have to think about “silver linings” or “play-in” games much longer. After two months on the sidelines, Davis is expected to return on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks.

In his pre-game Zoom Monday, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said Davis is “going to continue to build up over the next two days and see how he’s feeling going into that Dallas game.”

His return can't come soon enough.

Predictably, L.A. (35-23) was unable to keep up with Utah (43-15) at Staples Center on Monday. The Real Jazz (as opposed to Saturday's iteration) shot 57.3% from the field and hit 15-of-33 from beyond the arc. Quin Snyder's group dished 29 assists on 43 field goals, while the defending champions hit 43% of their looks and on 17 assists.

“We had a poor performance, particularly on the offensive end, but defensively, not really great, or good enough, either,” Vogel said.

The Lakers especially missed Davis's presence down low. Andre Drummond (3-12 FG) was gobbled up by Rudy Gobert, while the April struggles of Montrezl Harrell (2 points, 1-4 FG) continued. L.A. was out-rebounded by 10 and outscored 52-36 in the paint.

“I’m sure we’ll meet up with them in the future,” Kyle Kuzma said.

If Davis returns Thursday, he'll do so with 14 games left in the 2020-21 regular season. James is still about two weeks away from returning.

“It’s still light work on the court, but he is doing court work and progressing each day — just trying to do a little bit more with his activity each day,” Vogel said about James.

Vogel re-iterated that Davis will play “short, limited minutes,” upon his return as he “ramps up” his conditioning. Regardless: it'll mark a celebratory occasion for the Lakers.

As admirably as L.A. has fought since James joined Davis on the injury list, the ensemble needs their lead actors to sustain the LakeShow; the “big dogs,” as Markieff Morris said.

“We’re getting healthy at the right time, this is perfect for us,” Markieff Morris said on Saturday. “With this crazy season with all these games, back-to-back nights, and days off in between, without our best two players we’ve held it down for the most part. Now we get them back fully healthy and ready to make a run.”

The re-assimilation of Davis should be invigorating, but won't come without obstacles. As Kuzma elucidated after the loss to Utah, Davis is a fulcrum around which players have to learn to orbit. James, on the other hand, naturally elevates the supporting cast.

“I don’t really think that there are too many concerns,” Kuzma continued. “I think if there was one, it’s guys learning to play with AD more…Guys learning their spots, where to be on the court when he has the ball…This year we really haven’t had to deal with it too much…I think that’s the biggest thing, guys learning how to play with Anthony Davis…LeBron makes the game easier for everyone else. Learning how to play with AD is different. We all have to buy in and sacrifice.”

AD has been limited to 23 games in 2020-21.

“Having him out there is going to be really good for us because I think how certain guys fall in line a little bit more as a whole,” Kuzma said. “We can all get back to a little bit of a role and play around him a little bit.”

The majority of the Lakers' rotation gelled and won with Davis in 2019-20. However, a handful of folks in the locker room — including Drummond, Harrell, Dennis Schröder, Talen Horton-Tucker (who set a career-high 24 points vs. Utah), Ben McLemore, Marc Gasol, and Wesley Matthews — don't have a ton of reps alongside AD under their belt.

Drummond, at least, does have on-court experience with Davis, via Team USA.

“Played with AD for many years with USA Basketball, so the experience is there,” Drummond said Monday. “Look forward to being back on the court with him again. I think he should be back very soon, so very excited to start that bond together on the court.”

The more pressing chemistry challenge, Kuzma admitted, may present itself in crunch-time.

“We don’t really know what a closing lineup looks for us this year at all.”

He's got a point. Of the Lakers' 10 most common 5-man lineups this season, Davis only appears in two. The team's far most used grouping includes Gasol, who has been relegated from the rotation. The team's two most-deployed 4th-quarter 5-man groups include Davis, but neither lineup has played 20 fourth-quarter minutes together.

Presumably, Schröder will be involved in any playoff closing group, joined by James, Davis, Kuzma, and either Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Alex Caruso. Beyond that, the Lakers have a plethora of seasoned vets — along with and Horton-Tucker — that offer viable options down the stretch.

Ultimately, these are “good” problems, and Kuzma isn't overly worried about having 14 games to re-incorporate Davis, and even less time to ease James back in.

“Last year, we had eight games to figure it out and won a championship,” Kuzma said, reference the seeding games in the bubble, when the Lakers struggled to shake off the rust before flipping the switch for a triumphant playoff run.

Regardless, Kuzma and the Lakers are exceedingly eager to get the taller of their two All-Stars back in time for consecutive contests against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. As Monday's showing illustrated: the Lakers are ready for reinforcements, yesterday.

“His ass better play, he's been out all season long,” Kuzma cracked.