Anthony Davis’ Injuries Through the Years

Charles Barkley infamously dubbed Anthony Davis “street clothes” due to his constant injuries. Here is a look at Anthony Davis’ injuries through the years. 

2022-23

Just five games into the 2022-23 NBA season, Anthony Davis is once again on the injured list. He did not play Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves due to lower back tightness. Currently he is listed as day-to-day for Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.

2021-22

During the 2021-22 season, Davis only played 40 games due to injury. His first injury of the season occurred in mid-December when he suffered an MCL sprain. A knee injury of this kind typically takes six weeks to heal. Davis made his return just four weeks later.

Right before the All-Star break, Davis suffered a left foot injury. Los Angeles Lakers team doctors determined he would be reevaluated in four weeks.

Four weeks after the injury, team doctors determined he would need to sit out another four weeks. 

The Lakers finished the season 33-49. The team was plagued by injury last year, which caused Davis to contemplate what could have been. He told ESPN “I think the biggest thing that I think about personally is what we could have been, had we stayed healthy all year…”

2020-21

The 2020-21 season was the worst season in Davis’ career injury wise. He only played 36 games and suffered major injuries. 

In mid-February, it was discovered that Davis had swelling around his right achilles tendon. He missed two games, due to the injury. During his first game back, Davis bumped into Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. This incident aggravated his injury even more. 

While the tendon did not rupture, it was sprained so bad, that Davis missed the next 30 games of the season. 

The Lakers fell 4-2 to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. Davis suffered a left groin injury during game 4. He returned for game 6, but the team fell 113-100 to end their season.

Other Injuries 

Prior to the 2020-21 season, Davis did not miss that many games. During the 2019-20 championship run, he played in 62 games. The only time he was out was due to a sacral contusion and testing positive for Covid-19.

Prior to his achilles injury in 2020, Davis did not miss very many games. Between 2015-2018 he only missed 35 games.

During his rookie season with the New Orleans Pelicans, he missed 18 games. His injuries included a concussion, left knee sprain and a stress reaction in his left ankle. The ankle injury was the worst one in his career prior to 2020.

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