Los Angeles Lakers star big man Anthony Davis will miss Wednesday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies due to a left heel contusion, head coach JJ Redick told reporters.
Rui Hachimura will also miss the contest with an illness.
Davis, 31, has dealt with his fair share of injuries throughout his career, playing in 70 or more games just three times. He stayed largely healthy in the 2023-24 campaign, however, appearing in 76 contests, and it was one of his better seasons as a pro—he averaged 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 blocks per game, shooting 55.6 percent from the field but just 27.1 percent from three.
Success for the Lakers didn’t follow closely behind, as the team was eliminated in five games by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs after getting through the Play-In Tournament.
Nonetheless, Davis remains one of the NBA’s most dominant big men, and also played a crucial role for Team USA during the 2024 Paris Games, helping his country win the gold medal.
He had a strong start to the 2024-25 season as well, with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst crediting Davis’ improved training regimen from earlier in his career.
“Part of this story is that Davis is in better physical condition,” he reported in October. “He is just in better physical condition than he was earlier in his career. He’s going through a run of health, so knock on wood and hope that continues. But this is one of the things: It helped him throughout last season, and then when he got to Team USA this last summer, he was in—of the big men especially—he was in clearly the best condition out of any of the bigs who were in camp.”
This latest knock doesn’t seem to be considered a serious one, which will be a relief for the 4-3 Lakers.