After head coach Darvin Ham spoke to reporters on Friday about Anthony Davis‘ foot injury, the Lakers big man held his own media session for the first time since being sidelined, echoing Ham’s optimism about how the recovery is progressing.
“Feeling a lot better, pain has subsided tremendously,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I think the next step is (the foot) healing right now. I don’t want to use timetables because that’s a whole different thing, but it’s healing pretty quickly. So when we get back to L.A., we’ll do another image of the foot, and see how far it’s healed.”
According to Davis, the injury initially felt like a nine out of 10 in terms of pain, but that number has decreased to a one or two within the last couple of weeks. He’s dealing with a bone spur fractured off the navicular bone in his right foot as well as a stress reaction in that same bone.
“The stress reaction (can lead to) a stress fracture, and that’s a whole different ballgame,” Davis said in explaining why he and the Lakers are being careful with his recovery process.
As McMenamin details, the plan is for Davis to undergo another MRI on the injury next week — if it comes back clear, he’ll begin to undergo treatment on the injury, including shockwave and bone stimulation therapy.
When Davis first underwent an MRI on the injury earlier in the month, the Lakers shared the results with five different doctors and foot specialists in an effort to determine a recovery plan, McMenamin writes. Undergoing a procedure to remove the bone spur was one option presented, but Davis doesn’t view the bone spur as the most pressing issue in the short term, explaining that he hopes to avoid surgery for now, but he’s open to going under the knife after the season.
“Something to consider, in the offseason, to remove (the bone spur),” he said. “I think the biggest thing is the stress reaction though, just monitoring that. Because that can definitely lead to six, seven, eight months out — I would rather take four weeks than seven months. I’m not saying I’ll be back in four weeks — but hopefully.”
Davis was playing some of the best basketball of his career prior to suffering the injury on Dec. 16 against the Nuggets. In his last 12 full games, he had averaged an eye-popping 35.0 points, 14.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.5 blocks and 1.3 steals on 64.1% shooting.
The 29-year-old admits that it has been “tough mentally” to deal with this ailment just as he was rounding into peak form, but he expressed confidence that he’ll be able to pick up where he left off once he returns.
“I’m just really excited to get back on the floor,” Davis said. “(It) hasn’t been a ‘Man, it’s going to take me X amount of games to get back in rhythm,’ or, ‘Might not be the same.’ That’s not even been a thought in my mind. My thought has been, ‘Whenever that day is, it’s go time.'”
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