The Los Angeles Lakers are taking a “next-man-up” approach to the extended absence of Anthony Davis, and they'll be heavily relying on off-season acquisitions to carry the load.

Davis will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks after an MRI on Monday thankfully revealed that the All-Star avoided the dreaded rupture of the Achilles tendon. On Tuesday, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel acknowledged that “it's unlikely that we bring him back before the break, but we’ll see.”

The Lakers were fortunate enough to stay relatively healthy during their championship campaign of 2019-20 — before and after the pandemic. Prior to AD's new ailment, they've been lucky enough to avoid serious injury or crippling COVID-related issues.

Now, they'll have an unexpected opportunity to see the value of their prized November pick-ups.

“It’s more opportunities for everyone else,” Vogel said in his pre-game Zoom with reporters. “Our whole team has to step up – no one person is gonna make up for what we miss” without Davis.

Playing their first full game since Davis re-aggravated his Achilles against the Denver Nuggets, the newest Lakers combined to earn significant Executive of the Year points for general manager Rob Pelinka. (Maybe he'll get a few more votes than last season.)

L.A. (22-7) held off a scrappy Minnesota Timberwolves group at the Target Center, 112-104.

MVP frontrunner LeBron James led his unit with his typical production: 30 points (13-20 FG), 13 rebounds, and seven assists (also five turnovers). But it was the performance of the supporting cast that stole this LakeShow in the frigid North Midwest.

“We’re gonna look to Marc [Gasol]” Vogel hinted before the game. Sure enough, the veteran center — who has been mainly asked to focus on defensive positioning, passing, and screening this season — took advantage of his suddenly-revised role

Gasol had 11 points on 4-of-7 field goals. That may not sound like much, but it marked (sorry) his second-highest point total of the season, too, and just the second time he took that many shots since joining his older brother's former team. Entering this week, Gasol was averaging a career-low in points (4.0) and shot attempts (3.3) per game.

Another newcomer, 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, continued to wreak havoc off the bench, finishing with 17 points (5-7 FG, 7-7 FT) and six boards in 18 minutes.

“Guys are just ready to go — we’re a really deep team,” Harrell told reporters after the win. “We needed guys to step up … it’s multiple people, it’s not gonna be one person to fill the void of what AD does.”

Perhaps more importantly, Gasol and Harrell held down the fort on the defensive end without Davis. The two bigs worked together to limit Wolves All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns to season-low 15 points on 7-of-1o shooting.

Dennis “The Menace” Schröder contributed an efficient 24 points (9-of-15 FG, 6-of-8 from the line) to tie his second-highest scoring outing as a Laker.

Wes Matthews — who had been out of the rotation for much of January — produced a +9 in 22 minutes, and his one field goal, a triple late in the fourth quarter, helped ice the game. (Once again, Alex Caruso found a way to lead the Lakers in plus/minus with a +14 in 18 minutes).

Overall, the four combined to score about 19 points more than their season average, nearly compensating for the 22.5 PPG AD has brought to the table in 2020-21.

“To have the production tonight from our group – Dennis, Trez, Wes, Marc – they were huge for us,” James said in his post-game media session. “Everyone came in and chipped in a little bit more.”

Davis has missed six games this season due to various ailments, and the Lakers are 5-1 in those games.

“All of these situations where you have guys out, you have to use your roster flexibility,” Vogel said. “It could benefit you long term.”

James echoed the sentiments of Vogel and Harrell.

“It's next man up … we're not expecting one person to pick up AD’s productivity,” James told reporters. “Nobody’s gonna be able to do that, but we can all collectively do more. And that’s our job. … The four guys we bought in, they all did more tonight … We needed that from every last one of 'em, and we’re gonna need that while AD’s out.”

James recalled experiencing untimely injuries to his star teammates in the past, like Chris Bosh in the 2012 playoffs, and Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving during the 2015 playoffs.

“I’ve had some big guns go down before,” he said.

Because the Lakers are hard-capped and feature a deep roster of cheap and valuable rotation pieces, the team is limited in its ability to pursue buyout candidates (not Blake Griffin) before Feb. 24. or make a trade before March 25. However, If the ensemble around the King continues to perform as it did on Tuesday, Pelinka may be able to keep his outgoing phone bill down until AD returns.

“I like what we have to go to war with. We have of guys on this roster that I believe in,” Vogel said postgame.

Of course, Tuesday posed a favorable matchup against the 7-21 T-Wolves, playing without D'Angelo Russell. We'll learn more about how effectively the Lakers can tread water without Davis on Thursday, when the defending champions welcome the star-studded Brooklyn Nets to Staples Center.