Lakers star Anthony Davis will be sidelined for four weeks after scans showed an MCL sprain in his left knee. It appeared as though the forward suffered the injury in the third quarter of Los Angeles’ game against Minnesota on Friday.
Currently averaging a 23.3pts/9.9rpg/2.9ast/2blk statline this year, Davis will be re-evaluated a month from now to see how his knee is healing. The 8 time all star is no stranger to missing time, having never played more than 75 games in a season, and only cracking the 70 game plateau twice in his 10 year career.
While the Lakers do have depth in their frontcourt positions, they’re currently being ravaged by injuries and COVID protocols at the moment. Avery Bradley, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn, and Austin Reaves are all currently in the league’s health and safety protocols.
Los Angeles will not be able to immediately replace Davis’ production via an internal candidate as Jordan, Howard, and Huff aren’t in the same realm offensively as AD. However, now that the calendar has flipped past December 15th, it means that most of the players across the association are now trade eligible, leading many to wonder whether Lakers GM Rob Pelinka could be in the market for a trade partner.
While some have speculated that a change of scenery may be just the thing New York’s Mitchell Robinson needs to turn his season around, the Knicks would be looking for more than a handful of 2nd round picks and bench players in return. Dallas has a glut of big men including Powell, Kleber, Cauley-Stein, Brown and Boban, but their history suggests they aren’t exactly tripping over themselves to make deals with their Western Conference rivals.
Gorgui Dieng in Atlanta is an intriguing name as he was essentially a placeholder until the Hawks got Okongwu back. At 31 years old he certainly fits the “veteran” mould the Lakers have built, and his ability to shoot the 3 while providing an above average rim presence means he could be a viable piece to play alongside AD, James and Westbrook even after Davis returns to the hardwood.
Expect the Lakers front office to work the phones for the next few days leading up to the holidays to see what kind of market is available for big men. Perhaps if they’re lucky, they’ll find a power forward that can help them down the stretch in their stocking this year.
Los Angeles is next in action on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.