Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins told NBA reporters on Sunday (2/8) he anticipates Anthony Davis playing again this season.
Davis suffered a left hand injury on January 8 against the Utah Jazz and an MRI revealed ligament damage.
“The plan for A.D. right now is to go back to Dallas and finish his rehab,” Dawkins said. “He has a really good team down there. Our doctors met with them, and our medical staff’s going to go down with him. So, we want to keep that good thing going that he has.
“During All-Star break, he takes another visit for a doctor, and that’s a big appointment for us to kind of see where his progress is. After that, after All-Star break, he’ll return to D.C. and be here with the team.”
Davis is making $54.1 million this season. He’s eligible for a four-year, $275 million extension in August.
A top-75 player of all time, Davis turns 33 in March. He played in only 29 games with the Mavericks. Dallas acquired Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers last season in the stunning Luka Dončić trade.
Davis has played for the New Orleans Pelicans, Lakers and Mavericks. He’s a 10-time All-Star and one-time NBA champion with career averages of 24.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocks per game.
“A.D. is a special player, a special talent,” Dawkins said. “He obviously opens up so much on offense because he demands double-teams. He can score in different areas. Defensively, he’s been an anchor, rebounder, rim protector when you have him at the four (and) Alex at the five, protecting the paint. (With) Bilal, Kyshawn, Jamir (Watkins), some of our elite wing defenders out there, we want to be long. We want to be athletic. We want to be able to protect the paint better than we have. I think adding someone like him opens up the game(s) of a lot of our other players, but also allows him to be Anthony Davis, too.”
The Wizards acquired Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks before trading for Davis. Young is recovering from a sprained right knee and bruised quadriceps.
“Trae probably has never played with a player to the level of Anthony Davis, while also leading the league in assists and assist percentage,” Dawkins said. “You add a player like (Davis) at the rim, in pick-and-roll and (in a) two-man game, that opens it up. But again, (having) Anthony Davis (and) surrounding him with the level of shooters that we have … I think the floor is going to be spread. We’re going to have a lot of people who can make decisions, and that’s how we want to play basketball. It won’t be one person dominating the ball, and that’s not what we want. So again, adding these guys positionally made a lot of sense.”
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