The Los Angeles Lakers have begun to find their way in recent weeks, winning five straight games even without Anthony Davis.
Davis hurt his foot in a December game against the Denver Nuggets and has missed the Lakers’ last 12 games with the team going 7-5 in that span.
Over the five-game win streak, the Lakers have gotten contributions from a number of different players like Thomas Bryant and Dennis Schroder. The thought of adding Davis to that nucleus with how well he had been playing before the injury has the Lakers and their fans very excited.
And it appears it may not be much longer before that happens. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Davis is beginning his ramp up process for a return to action:
The pain in Anthony Davis’ right foot continues to subside and the Los Angeles Lakers’ star plans to begin the ramp up process to return to play when the team returns to L.A. this week, league sources told ESPN.
Davis has reportedly been doing some shooting although he will now begin doing more, perhaps putting him just a couple of weeks away from a return:
Since then, Davis has been limited to spot shooting thus far, sources said, in his on-court work beyond rehabilitating the foot, some 3 ½ weeks after the injury occurred.
The ramp up process will involve aquatic pool workouts and running on an altered-gravity treadmill to keep the big man’s full weight off his foot while it continues to heal, sources said.
There is optimism within the Lakers that the ramp up process could only take a couple weeks before Davis could start penciling a potential return to game action, sources told ESPN.
This is obviously great news for Davis and the Lakers considering how much uncertainty there has been surrounding his injury.
The Lakers surely will not rush their star big man back, but if they can get him healthy and able to return to the lineup before the end of January then there should be a few games before the Feb. 9 trade deadline to evaluate what the team needs.
James has had ‘visions’ of Davis and Bryant playing together in front court
Before Davis got injured he almost exclusively played center for the Lakers this season. With the recent emergence of Bryant though, LeBron James has had thoughts of what a frontcourt with the three of them in the lineup together can look like.
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