Lakers Rule Anthony Davis Out After Making Strong Statement

The Los Angeles Lakers are playing against Detroit on Thursday night. It’s another big game for the team and head coach Frank Vogel has made some changes to the starting lineup. According to recent reports, Anthony Davis is out for the game.

The Lakers big man was ready to confront the Pistons, but he won’t play in the second game of the back-to-back against the franchise. Davis is dealing with a right quad contusion.

The Lakers say Anthony Davis will sit out tonight in Detroit on the second half of a back-to-back with a right quad contusion.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 28, 2021

Davis has been dealing with the same issue for days. He had it in the game against the Sixers on Wednesday. It was more than a “brush burn” from the floor.

Anthony Davis said he got a "brush burn" from the floor and it was irritated by his tights. So that's why he kept grabbing at/touching his knee.

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) January 28, 2021

Anthony Davis is out for the game

The Lakers big man was sidelined after he said, “You’ll see tomorrow.” He made this walk-off declaration after the loss to the Sixers. It will be hard for Davis to keep his promise because he won’t be playing against Detroit. NBA fans would definitely love to see AD go against the Pistons. The medical staff will make a decision on his return, and he is probably going to play Saturday. Los Angeles is playing against the Boston Celtics.

Davis is pretty disappointed with his performance. His stats don’t look that bad as he is averaging 21.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.9 blocks per game. Most NBA players can’t even get any close to these numbers. But, Davis knows that these points and rebounds per game are near career lows for him. His free throw percentage is 71.1. In the 2019-20 season, this percentage went as high as 84.6%.

AD doesn’t make any excuses and he believes that his free throw issues are mental.

Part of Anthony Davis discussing his free throw shooting included him saying, "At this point it's just all mental. It's nothing I'm really worried about."

— Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) January 28, 2021

“I’m not worried about it. I usually go up there and split them,” he told reporters after the game. “I missed two tonight and then made the final two. At this point, it’s just all mental. Continue to draw fouls, get to the line, and have confidence in my work that I’m going to make the free throws. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make free throws and make teams pay for fouling. I haven’t been good at that this year, but it’s something I’m not too concerned about.”