Lakers’ Anthony Davis reveals secret injury that hindered him last season

While the Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of problems in general last season, it did not help that the team also dealt with injuries to its key players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. LeBron played more than Davis, who ended up playing just half of the team’s games for the second straight season.

Davis suffered both an MCL sprain and mid-foot sprain last season that resulted in two different long stints of not playing. However, there was a third injury that Davis was also seemingly playing through that may have hindered his performance as well.

Davis told the media on Wednesday that he was dealing with a wrist injury since January that had an impact on his shooting. He did not directly blame his poor shooting on the injury, but he did say that it hindered his follow-through on his shot.

This does nothing to help the injury-prone narrative surrounding Davis. However, the good part for the Lakers is that the star power forward isn’t dealing with the injury any longer.

Anthony Davis didn’t shoot poorly for the Lakers because of a hidden wrist injury.

First of all, the worst stretch of shooting numbers for Anthony Davis came before January before his first extended break from action. Prior to his MCL strain, Davis was one of the worst jump shooters in the entire league. He sprained his MCL in December.

That is not to say that he was any good once he returned from his MCL injury, though. In the 13 games he played from mid-January to the end of the season, Davis shot an abysmal 21.4% from beyond the arc.

The problem is that Davis is not a stretch four. He simply isn’t. Despite what the league has transitioned to, Davis is still really good at making teams pay near the rim. His mid-range jump shot makes defenses respect him and at his best, he can hit the occasional three. He doesn’t need to be a sharpshooter.

The problem last year, though, was that Davis had to change his game and get farther from the rim than he should have been. LA’s floor spacing was awful with a traditional center clogging the lane and Russell Westbrook’s lack of shooting. All Westbrook can do is barrel to the rim and kick, and there has to be someone to kick to.

Davis was that someone and there is a reason why Davis and Westbrook were one of the worst two-man lineups on the Lakers last season. They’re simply not compatible and while the wrist may have played a factor, there are bigger issues that are causing problems here.

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Anthony Davis saying his wrist no longer is injured does not mean he is suddenly going to turn it around as a jump-shooter. That is only going to happen if the Lakers make fundamental changes to how they play basketball this season.