(Bitter)Sweet mother of all that’s cruel and inhuman and just plain sucks.
Anthony Davis is injured again.
On Nov. 10, Davis left the New Orleans Pelicans’ lone win of the season, a victory over the Dallas Mavericks, with a hip injury. He would miss two games, both losses, before returning to the lineup against the New York Knicks on Sunday. Though the Pelicans would lose once again, Davis pumped in 36 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocks. He was back, in a big way.
Now he’s potentially gone again.
Davis left the Pelicans’ Tuesday night loss to the Denver Nuggets with a shoulder injury and did not return. It’s not entirely clear when he hurt himself, but SI.com’s Ben Golliver has video of a screen set by Emmanuel Mudiay that could be the root of Davis’ injury:
Last real contact to left shoulder for Anthony Davis prior to his exit from game was this screen on Emmanuel Mudiay pic.twitter.com/iqJ0A3gQEb
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) November 18, 2015
Well, shit.
The Pelicans, now 1-10, with virtually no chance of making the playoffs, cannot afford to lose Davis if they plan on taking any steps forward this year. If tanking away the season in hopes of landing Ben Simmons is their aim, they’re right on schedule. Otherwise, this is not what they need.
Good news, though: Anthony Davis traveled with New Orleans for their bout against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Bad news: That doesn’t actually mean anything good.
From The Times Picayune‘s John Reid:
New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis made the trip to Oklahoma City with the team for Wednesday night’s game against the Thunder.
But Anthony Davis’ status remains uncertain after injuring his left shoulder in the first quarter and not returning to play in Tuesday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said after the game that he did not know Davis’ status. It appeared Davis injured his shoulder after a hard screen was set. But apparently Davis was already dealing with shoulder problem that occurred when he was bumped during Sunday’s game against the New York Knicks.
With their season being flushed down the toilet even with Davis in the lineup, and with the knowledge that this shoulder injury has been issue for some time, it would be surprising if he played in Oklahoma City—or, for that matter, if they didn’t rest him up for a few games.
Anthony Davis is too important to their future and has already proved injury-prone. There’s no use risking further incident for, again, a team that isn’t immediately going anywhere.
Instead, the Pelicans, or at least us, should get #BenSimmonsToThePelicans2016 trending on Twitter.
