Lakers News: A Less-Than-Encouraging Update On The Anthony Davis Back Injury

Darvin Ham discusses why AD sat out last night.

Oft-injured Los Angeles Lakers power forward/center Anthony Davis found himself once again wearing street clothes last night for L.A.'s 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Davis was rested due to the sore lower back that he appeared to re-injure during a flailing landing Wednesday night.

Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet was on hand for a Darvin Ham chat with reporters during the network's pregame broadcast that illuminated the head coach's thinking on Davis.

Darvin Ham talks about Anthony Davis being out with back soreness and more ahead of the #Lakers matchup tonight with the Timberwolves. pic.twitter.com/o7nbEKLpeG

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 28, 2022

Here are the highlights of Ham's feedback:

“It felt good this morning when he woke up, but then going from activity to inactivity this afternoon, and when you’re on the road obviously it’s not your bed, so things like just rolling over in a foreign bed can tweak it and cause discomfort. But just getting out in front of it not wanting to put him into a make-or-break situation too early in the season... And obviously we’re gonna need him in a major way to be healthy so, 'Why risk it?' was our thought process... It’s a good thing that we’re going home tonight after the game and so we’ll be back in our own building and obviously we have our people traveling with us... [We] feel good about him not playing tonight and that leading to him being available the upcoming next game.”

It sounds like the back could have been exacerbated by extended run on the hardwood last night. Remember, Davis labored through the tweaked back for 37 minutes during a double-digit loss to the Denver Nuggets and their burly MVP center Nikola Jokic on Wednesday.

Davis will get his next opportunity to suit up for Los Angeles in yet another game against the Denver Nuggets, this time at Crypto.com Arena, tomorrow night. It certainly seems like it may behoove L.A. to rest him a bit longer, rather than risk re-aggravating the injury that's been an issue, on and off, since the preseason.