FILE — Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers falls to the ground during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center on February 04, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. Harry How/Getty Images/AFP
Lakers forward Anthony Davis returned to practice Thursday, but said he’ll take a cautious approach to the right Achilles trouble that has sidelined him for the NBA champions’ last two games.
Davis said in a teleconference with reporters that he’d see how the injury responds before deciding if he’ll play on Friday when the Lakers host the Memphis Grizzlies.
The main aim, he said, is to avoid a lengthy layoff and be healthy when the playoffs roll around.
“Obviously the Achilles is nothing to play about, so want to make sure that it’s feeling really good before I step back on the floor,” he said.
“I just don’t want to play a game where I still feel it and then get hurt and I don’t know for the playoffs, or whatever, or for multiple weeks where it’s something I can’t control and maintain.”
Davis, who spent seven seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans before being traded to the Lakers in June of 2019, teamed with superstar LeBron James to lead Los Angeles to the title in the quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida, last season.
He inked a five-year contract worth $190 million with the Lakers in December.
Anthony said the injury, described by the Lakers as tendonosis, was diagnosed by ultrasound.
“Not really tightness, more so soreness,” he said of the symptoms. “Pushing off, even walking, honestly, running, jumping, anything like that, I would feel it.”
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