Anthony Davis "out indefinitely" for Lakers with stress injury to right foot

Anthony Davis‘ foot injury is going to keep him on the bench for the foreseeable future.

On Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that Davis has suffered a stress injury in his right foot that will keep him “out indefinitely”. It was one week ago that the Los Angeles Lakers All-Star forward was sidelined at halftime against the Denver Nuggets. Davis landed awkwardly on his foot while going up against Denver’s Nikola Jokic during the first quarter. He did not return to the floor after the intermission.

“After extensive consultation with Lakers team physicians and outside specialists, it has been determined that Anthony Davis has a stress injury in his right foot,” the Lakers wrote on social media. “Davis will be out indefinitely. Further updates will be provided when appropriate.”

The initial expectation was that Davis would miss one month for the Lakers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday that Davis is expected to be reevaluated in 7-10 days to determine if he can return to play. The hope is that he will avoid surgery entirely.

The Lakers provided an update on Anthony Davis today at noon, saying he will continue to be out for an indefinite period with a “stress injury” in his right foot.He was present for shootaround this morning, wearing slippers on the court. He will miss his 4th straight game tonight pic.twitter.com/6q2ZLXUjv0

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 23, 2022

The timing of this injury couldn’t be worse for Davis or the Lakers. Not only was he playing the best basketball of his incredible career, but he was helping keep the struggling Lakers afloat. Through 25 games this season prior to his injury, Davis was averaging 27.4 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.1 blocks in 33.4 minutes per contest. He was shooting a career-high 59.4 percent from the floor and over 82 percent from the free-throw line.

Since Davis went down, L.A. is just 1-2 and sits on an overall record of 13-18, which is third-worst in the entire Western Conference. Even when he was playing alongside a healthy LeBron James, those two simply didn’t have much of a supporting cast surrounding them. Davis, who has been a legit MVP candidate this season, missing an extended period of time continues to put the Lakers in an unfortunate and uncomfortable position moving forward.