Lakers: A Look Back At The L.A. Injury History Of Anthony Davis
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Los Angeles Lakers fans have a strange relationship with All-Star big man Anthony Davis. After he demanded his way off the New Orleans Pelicans to land with L.A. superstar LeBron James in the summer of 2019, he immediately won his first (and last?) NBA title with the franchise.
Since that mostly-healthy initial season in Los Angeles, Davis has struggled to stay healthy, while questionable personnel decisions have sent L.A. spiraling towards the bottom of the Western Conference. Lakers fans have not taken to loving Davis, especially given the way he seems to wince and grimace every other time he lands funnily on the floor. It almost always looks like he's playing through something now, and, well, perhaps he is.
Let's unpack his afflictions throughout his stint with the Lakers, from 2019 through the present.
2019-20
Davis was healthy for 62 out of 71 regular season games and appeared in every playoff game for the Lakers. The months-long break due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was probably a godsend for AD's health. He missed time with a contusion, but was mostly healthy, and proved to be a crucial two-way threat as the Lakers stormed through the Western Conference playoffs en route to a tough six-game NBA Finals series against Jimmy Butler's Miami Heat.
2020-21
Davis dealt with calf and Achilles injuries throughout the 2020-21 season, and was only healthy for 36 of 72 games. Davis suffered a groin injury in Game 4 of the team's quarterfinals series against the eventual Finals representatives in the West, the Phoenix Suns. He would not suit up for the fifth game in the series, and would play just 5:25 in the series's sixth contest, which L.A. would go on to lose that first-round bout.
2021-22
Last year was filthy with Anthony Davis absences. A fever kept him out of his first game of the 2021-22 season. He then sat for a pair of games with knee soreness, sprained his MCL and missed 17 consecutive contests, hurt his wrist, turned his right ankle, and then incurred a mid-foot sprain. All told, he was available for only 40 of the Lakers' 82 regular season games. The team finished with a 33-49 record, missing the playoffs just two seasons removed from having won it all.
2022-23
We're only 13 games into the current season, and Davis is already playing through an injury. To his credit, he has only sat out one regular season game thus far with said ailment, a tight lower back.
All told, to this point Davis has missed 88 of a possible 238 regular season contests with the Lakers. Here's hoping he can stay healthy for a majority of games this year.
