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Los Angeles Lakers PF Anthony Davis has been ruled out for Monday’s game vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder due to right Achilles tendonosis. G Alex Caruso is being listed as questionable due to a hand injury. AD played 45 minutes in the Lakers’ 2OT win over the Detroit Pistons this past weekend. Davis had been reported as “very unlikely” to play against the Thunder earlier in the day. LeBron James is being listed as probable, which isn’t any change from previous injury reports.
Lakers say Anthony Davis (right Achilles tendonosis) & Jared Dudley (sore right calf) will be out tonight vs Thunder. LeBron James (left ankle sprain) is listed as probable & Alex Caruso is listed as questionable (right hand strain)
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 8, 2021
Update: Caruso has been ruled out for Monday’s game vs. the Thunder.
With Davis sidelined, the Lakers will likely start Kyle Kuzma at forward and continue to bring Montrezl Harrell ($5,300) off the bench. The Lakers have the flexibility to play LeBron at PF and Kuzma ($5,200) at SF with no Davis. If Caruso is sidelined, then Talen Horton-Tucker could be in line or more minutes off the bench. Dennis Schroder ($5,700) will also have to pick up some of the slack if Caruso sits.
The line is Lakers -10.5 as of now. That could shift if Caruso is ruled out. We sort of knew from earlier that Davis wasn’t expected to play. The Thunder really aren’t that bad and have to play back-to-back games in L.A. The issue is the line will probably only go down from here. Getting OKC at 10.5 isn’t a bad idea. The Lakers should still pick up the win so long as LeBron plays a full workload. We’ll see if there’s any updates before tip-off later on.