Lakers Injury Report: Anthony Davis' Availability For Game 6 Revealed

LA's star center incurred a head injury Wednesday.

Last night at the Chase Center, your Los Angeles Lakers came up short in their efforts to end the Golden State Warriors' season for good, falling in Game 5 of their playoff series, 121-106. The series now shifts to LA for Game 6 on Friday.

The biggest story out of last night, however, is the health of Anthony Davis. The Los Angeles center took a Kevon Looney elbow to the face during the contest's fourth quarter, and ultimately departed the game for good to be evaluated by team doctors.

LA kept the exact state of the ailment somewhat murky last night, noting that the team would continue to examine probably its most important player today. The big concern with the head injury, of course, was that it could be a potential concussion.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN elaborated on the situation during "Get Up" this morning:

.@WindhorstESPN has the latest on Anthony Davis' injury: pic.twitter.com/e1Z0odv0MD

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 11, 2023

"This is not to take anything away from the game that the Warriors played last night because they played terrific in a closeout situation, but Anthony Davis and whether he can avoid the concussion protocol is the most important thing going in the NBA right now," Windhorst said. "And it's not something that could be decided last night. He will... continue to be evaluated today to see if he develops symptoms. I will tell you that having covered such situations like this for the last 10 or 15 years, every concussion situation is different."

"It's not necessarily the way he feels, there's a series of tests they put him through, that they compare him [to] the tests he had when he was not concussed to see how he's reacting. If he has to go into concussion protocol, it is not a matter of how he's feeling, or whether he can play through things, there is a pre-determined list of return-to-play guidelines that take time. If he goes into the protocol today... Game 6 almost 100% he would not be able to play no matter what. Not up to him, not up to anything. And even Game 7, because of the return-to-play protocols, I would say in my experience, very unlikely."

Since Windhorst's appearance, further news has developed, though the Lakers have yet to submit an injury report.

NBA sources inform Chris Haynes of TNT that the Lakers anticipate Davis should be able to suit up for LA in a possible closeout game Friday, assuming he doesn't suffer any setbacks. Based on this reporting, it sounds like Los Angeles will continue to monitor Davis throughout the day, but thus far he is asymptomatic.

The Lakers sure could use him. The 6'10" big man scored 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor, pulled down nine boards, and dished out three dimes (against three assists). His incredible two-way play against Golden State has kept the Warriors terrified of the paint in the three Los Angeles wins that have the team on the brink of knocking the reigning champs out of the playoffs this year.

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