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OTHERS…

 

Anthony Davis is eager to get to work after getting over his most recent storm.

Anthony Davis Overwhelmed, SAT in his bedroom closet’s corner.

The Los Angeles Lakers big player was at his breaking point a few days after another injury threatened to ruin yet another season for him.

 

 

“I’m like, shaking,” Davis said to ESPN last week, trembling his hand to represent how he felt that December day. “I’m just so mad and sad at the same time. … Frustrated.”

 

On December 16, while Davis was performing a standard post move to score past Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, he felt a searing pain that pointed to a complicated issue with his right foot: The navicular bone had shattered due to a bone spur, which was

 

 

experiencing a stress reaction as well. Doctors surmised that the important weight-bearing bone may have been chipped during his time as a student at the University of Kentucky, but the bone bruising made it worse.

Davis gave the agony an eight or nine on a ten-point scale. Also, there was some experience behind the estimate for someone with Davis’s level of physical hardship.

Doctors estimated that the injuries would keep him out of commission for eight to ten weeks.

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Therefore, Davis, having nowhere to run from the

come hug me but she’s scared to. So my wife was like, ‘It’s OK.’

“I see her and in my head I’m like, ‘Don’t come touching me.’ But she comes over, she gives me a quick hug, leaves, she sits back down and she says, ‘Mommy, I’ll be right back. I got an idea.'”

Nala scurried off, and Davis’ dour demeanor had already started to melt away as he toggled back to dad mode. But, he wanted to see what Nala would do when she returned, so he stayed on the floor with his hand over his face.

“At this point I’m trying to act,” Davis said, smiling at the ridiculousness of the scenario.

Nala returned a few minutes later and placed a piece of paper on the clothes pile next to him.

“Daddy, everything’s going to be OK,” Nala said.

 

 

 

Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis returned from a foot injury on Jan. 25. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
The 2012 No. 1 pick has forged his reputation as a two-way talent, but Davis’ risk of injury has also been attached to his pro resumé.

 

 

 

 

Over the past two seasons, Davis spent as much time rehabbing as he did playing — missing 78 out of a possible 154 games. What made this setback especially frustrating was he felt confident enough entering training camp to declare his goal to play in all 82 regular-season games after strengthening his frame all offseason.

 

 

 

 

Now, after failing to make the playoffs last season and starting off this season 2-10, Davis was looking at missing 30-plus games. Things were trending toward another wasted year for him, the franchise, and his partnership with LeBron James — a 38-year-old all-time great saddled with his own injury woes.

 

 

 

Davis’ family let him be, and the anger bubbled up back inside him — until he grabbed the sheet of paper Nala gifted him.

“There’s a f—ing rainbow,” Davis said with his eyes widened.

 

“She just drew a rainbow because she likes rainbows, or this girl is really smart to the point where …” Davis paused, and a smile covered his face. “At the end of every storm there’s a f—ing rainbow.”

 

 

WHILE THERE WAS a storybook start to Davis’ time in L.A., finishing his first season with a championship in the 2020 NBA bubble, there have been as many cloudy days as sunny ones since.

The Lakers’ bid at a repeat title was cut short when — after Davis missed 36 of 72 regular-season games and his team fell to the No. 7 seed — L.A. blew a 2-1 first-round lead to the Phoenix Suns. Davis suffered a groin injury that caused him to leave Game 4, miss Game 5 and muster just five minutes in Game 6.

Last season, L.A. failed to make the postseason with Davis missing 36 out of 46 games from Dec. 19 to April 1 because of a knee injury and ankle sprain, and the Lakers finished 33-49.

His body betraying him has not only dimmed Davis’ star — he wasn’t an All-Star the past two seasons after making it eight straight years — but it has stalled L.A.’s succession plan.

 

While James won the 2020 Finals MVP, averaging 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists against the Miami Heat, Davis held his own, putting up 25 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 blocks.

As recent injuries have taken their toll on James, Davis hasn’t fully asserted himself as L.A.’s next franchise player because of his own availability.

This season, as the Lakers chase down a postseason berth with James out since Feb. 26 recovering from a right foot injury, it’s on Davis to carry them.

“Obviously, my part in this has been huge,” Davis said. “Expectations of my performance and my leadership is high. Not only for myself, but for my team, my coaches, and the organization.”

Davis never would have scripted it to have to take the torch with James sidelined, but he accepted the responsibility.

“I think any time you are playing with another star anywhere and that guy goes out, as much as you try and isolate and not put much pressure on yourself, everybody’s looking for you to fill those shoes or at least half those shoes and the team fill up the other half,” Davis said. “So for me, knowing that he was going to be off work in an extended period of time and everyone’s looking at me like, ‘OK AD, we need you to carry us until we are able to get whole again now.'”

 

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Prior to James’ injury, the duo found themselves under the microscope during the highest-profile Lakers’ game of the season as the 20-year veteran was closing in on the NBA’s all-time scoring record.

 

 

After James eclipsed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s monumental mark with a fade-away jumper late in the third quarter on Feb. 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and floated down the court, arms spread to the air in celebration, Davis could be seen sitting on the bench with a stoic expression as other Lakers players exploded with glee.