The LA Lakers have listed both Anthony Davis (diagnosed with left eye soreness) and LeBron James (flu-like symptoms) a doubt for Tuesday night’s contest, their regular season home finale, against the Golden State Warriors.
Meanwhile, Gabe Vincent is off the injury report so will be able to play for L.A.
LeBron sat out Sunday night’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves with flu-like symptoms, but hopefully with a couple days to recover will be good to go in this extremely important contest against the Warriors.
That same hope exists for Davis, who aggravated a left eye injury during Sunday’s contest, an injury he originally suffered the last time the Lakers met the Warriors and like in that game, Davis was unable to return and the Lakers suffered a loss.
The big man was able to suit up the next time the Lakers took the court in that instance and the team needs that to be the case once again with only three games remaining in the regular season.
Davis has been an absolute rock for the Lakers this year, suiting up in 75 of the team’s 79 games and averaging 24.5 points while also being a legit Defensive Player of the Year candidate, ranking third in the NBA in rebounds per game (12.6) and fourth in blocks (2.4).
Things are extremely tight in this Western Conference playoffs race and the Lakers could still climb to a better position, or find themselves needing to win two road games just to qualify.
As such, having both Davis and LeBron on the court ready to go is an absolute necessity, especially as two of the Lakers’ final three games come against teams also currently in the Play-In Tournament.
The Lakers have no room for error and every single game matters now. With their loss on Sunday the Lakers’ brief climb to eighth place in the Western Conference ended and the team fell back behind the Sacramento Kings by 0.5 games to ninth.
The Lakers are only 1.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans, who are tied for sixth in the West, but are also just 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors, who are right behind them in 10th.
If the Lakers were to lose to the Warriors Tuesday, it would give Golden State the regular season tiebreaker and likely push the Lakers down to the final Play-In spot.
After the Warriors game, the Lakers hit the road to face the Memphis Grizzlies before heading to New Orleans to end the regular season against the Pelicans in a game that could have major seeding implications.
