Lakers star Anthony Davis exits win vs. Raptors with eye injury

Anthony Davis started Sunday’s clash against the Raptors leading the NBA in scoring at 32.4 points per match, along with his 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Up to that point, he had already performed six 30-point games this season, sparking an early MVP talk with his outstanding start. 

Unfortunately, the nine-time All-Star had to leave that evening’s 123-103 victory over Toronto due to a left eye injury, and had 22 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks before getting hurt.

AD ended up in the locker room midway through the third quarter after receiving a hit in their face while blocking Jakob Poeltl’s dunk attempt. The purple and gold center detained the effort in the lane with a one-handed block, but his rival’s hand went straight into his face and eyes.

Anthony Davis is getting his left eye checked out after it swelled up:https://t.co/LLTFHlQ9nX

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) November 12, 2024

Even though the Lakers’ home fans roared in excitement, their big man went down in pain and remained on the ground while holding his face. Davis stayed on the floor for about a minute, before finally getting up and heading into his team’s dressing room.

According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the player experience swelling due to the contact, and had a hard time opening his eye, which will have to be examined this week by an ophthalmologist as a precaution.

Let’s remember that Anthony went through a similar issue back in March, when he suffered a corneal abrasion to the same eye. The player left the Crypto.com Arena that night without saying a word to the press on Sunday.

“I just know that he got poked in it,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about his player’s injury. “He was having trouble seeing. Obviously taking a little bit of trauma to the eye, it takes a little bit of time to get your clear vision back. But other than that, no update. It requires more from everyone else.”

Jaxson Hayes took Davis’ place and impressed his own teammates with three dunks and a layup right in his first minutes on the court

The Lakers players feared the worst, as their start center left the court with his hands in his face. However, young Jaxson Hayes quickly spinned the situation around and contributed with 12 points and 6 rebounds by the end of the game.

“I thought Jaxson was amazing tonight,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said about Hayes’ performance. “Especially that third quarter on, I thought that he played probably one of his best games since he’s been here. Being active defensively, being a scorer in the pocket, rebounder. I thought he did a lot of really good things.”

Another who decided to take charge in AD’s absence was LeBron James, who recorded the 115th triple-double of his career, with the Lakers ending the game on a 53-30 run during the final 17 minutes. “AD is a big-time rebounder, so I had to pick up some of the slack with the defensive rebounding,” said James, who scored 19 points, a season-high 16 assists and 10 rebounds.

“And then with AD out, I’m taking a lot of eyes (that would be on) AD, because he’s putting so much pressure on defenses this season. I take some of that responsibility as well. Something I’ve been able to do for quite a while, so it’s not hard for me to be able to tap into that, even though that’s not been my role this year so far,” he added.