Los Angeles Lakers: Should the Lakers sit Anthony Davis?

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis has been essential to the Lakers success. But with ongoing shoulder injury issues, should the Lakers sit him?

After failing to make the playoffs in the previous season, the Los Angeles Lakers currently sit on top of the Western Conference with a 7-2 record, at the time of writing this. A major reason for the success can be attributed to the big-time trade acquisition of Anthony Davis, who is averaging 26.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game so far this season.

After six seasons of sub-par play (something the Laker organization is not accustomed to), Laker fans are out to prove that they are back.

However, there is a major issue that needs to be addressed in regards to Anthony Davis—he is battling an ongoing shoulder injury.

Without one of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ title aspirations are doomed. With Davis’s injury history and his current shoulder situation, it is definitely an area of concern.

Davis has often been considered injury-prone throughout his career and has even had previous encounters with shoulder issues back in the 2015-16 season. He suffered a sprained right shoulder, as well as continually having a sore shoulder, causing him to miss multiple games.

Now, Davis faces similar injury issues. Throughout this season, Davis can often be seen visibly grimacing in pain due to his shoulder.

The video above is one of many times a similar incident occurred, but the situation goes beyond these. Davis was asked about his shoulder pain and said there is “really never a play I don’t feel it, but I’m gonna go out there and play.”

Normally, this fighting spirit would be admired, especially with the recent criticism against Kawhi Leonard’s load management. However, not this time. The Lakers sent essentially all their young assets (except Kyle Kuzma) to the New Orleans Pelicans to acquire Davis. Without him, the Lakers do not have even a fighting chance in the Western Conference.

Lakers fans have been ridiculed by opposing fans for years now, and they want their revenge. With the success early on, they definitely have their heads held high. As frustrating as is sounds, the Lakers need to be smart, which will come at the expense of regular-season games.

Action Networks’ DraftKings projected the Lakers win total to be 51.5 wins at the beginning of the season. This number was below teams such as the Rockets, Nuggets, and Jazz. Most experts would agree that the Lakers are better than these teams, but that the Lakers record projection was largely due to the assumption that LeBron and Davis would both miss a significant amount of games.

So, it really is better to be safe than sorry. Shoulders are a really shaking injury to deal with, as they often do linger. Additionally, often times a sore shoulder can wind up turning into a more serious injury down the road. With a history of shoulder injuries, there is cause to believe that Davis has structural damage to his shoulder.

Obviously, the Los Angeles Lakers’ medical team, as well as Davis himself, know the severity of the injury better than anyone else. If there was a significant chance Davis would hurt himself further, the medical staff would not risk it.

With that said, the Los Angeles Lakers do not need Davis to play every game and can afford to slip down a bit in the standings. Sitting out just a couple of games could bring a lot of relief to Davis’s shoulder, and help him to feel much better throughout the course of the long season.

Most likely, Davis will not suffer a serious shoulder injury, but it would still be smart to “load manage” him. If Davis continues to play, his shoulder pain will linger on into the playoffs. Maybe this pain causes him to play at 90% instead of 100%.

This might not seem that drastic, but during a seven-game series against a physical Los Angeles Clippers team in the Western Conference Finals (and around the 100th game of the season), it can make all the difference.