The Los Angeles Lakers will play it ‘by ear” with the availability of LeBron James and Anthony Davis for Wednesday night’s matchup vs. Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, Darvin Ham said following his team’s 127-125 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
AD “irritated” his lingering groin/hip injury late in the second quarter and exited until halftime. Davis (37 points, 15-of-21 shooting, 11 rebounds) dominated through his 37 minutes on the first leg of the back-to-back. In 40 minutes, LeBron posted 33 points on 14-for-27 shooting, plus eight rebounds and nine assists. Both superstars were listed as questionable on the injury report (as was Jarred Vanderbilt, who did not play).
“Some things may be a little irritated,” Darvin Ham said postgame. “He’ll see our medical officials and we’ll see what the issues are. Monitor that situation.”
“There some moments in the game where I felt it,” noted Davis. “Kind of tweaked it again but we just got to see how it feels going forward. Each and every game, take it a day at a time and then we’ll make decisions from there.”
Tuesday marked the Lakers’ first contest since they won the NBA Cup. Davis noticeably aggravated his hip during his dominant In-Season Tournament championship performance.
“I was past the hurdle. “Since the Cleveland game, it’s been very fine. The first time I felt it or tweaked it again was on Saturday against Indiana. So that was about a three-week stretch.”
LeBron, who has been listed on the injury report with a calf contusion for weeks, said he’ll see how his body feels on Wednesday morning before determining his status for San Antonio.
“It’s all by ear,” Ham said about LeBron’s (and Vando’s) availability.
James and Davis have each missed only one game this season.
“My hats off to him,” Ham said about AD. “He’s one of our team captains. He wants to be there and be available for his team. He’s pushing through.”
Despite the monstrous stat lines from LeBron and AD — and quality contributions from Austin Reaves (22 points) and Taurean Prince (14 points, 5-for-6 from 3) — the Lakers (14-10) were bested at the American Airlines Center; their first loss since Nov. 30. Luka Doncic poured in 33 points and 17 assists, Tim Hardaway had 32 points off the bench, while Dante Exum — who entered with eight career 3s — more than made up for the absence of Kyrie Irving, converting seven of his nine attempts from downtown.
The Lakers and Spurs will run it back at the Frost Bank Center on Friday, so folks in San Antonio will hopefully be able to see LeBron and AD face Wemby in person this season should they miss the first matchup.
The Spurs (3-19) have lost 17 consecutive games.