Anthony Davis probable to play Saturday vs. Mavericks [UPDATE]

Update: April 23 — Davis is being listed as probable to play in Saturday’s game vs. the Dallas Mavericks. He returned to the lineup for the first time in two months on Thursday, playing 17 minutes against the Mavericks. In the second game of a back-to-back set between the two teams, we’ll see what kind of impact (if any) Davis can have on the game.

AD didn’t look great in his first game back, but we won’t hold that against him much. It’s been a while since he played at this pace and the expectations were low anyway with him being limited to 17 minutes. Coach Frank Vogel said AD would play around 15 minutes in each of the first two games.

Los Angeles Lakers PF Anthony Davis is finally making his return to the lineup on Thursday night vs. the Dallas Mavericks. It’s been over two months since Davis last played on Feb. 14, sustaining both calf and leg injuries which have held him out of the lineup.

The Lakers have fallen a bit in the standings with AD and LeBron James (ankle) both on the shelf. Los Angeles enters Thursday 35-23 with a 3.0 game lead on the Portland Trail Blazers for 5th place in the Western Conference. With that said, AD coming back should be a nice boon for the team. Let’s break down the fantasy basketball and betting sides.

Fantasy basketball advice

If you have Davis in season-long and you’re in the playoffs, chances are you will have somebody on your bench who is more worthy of a roster spot for Thursday night. Davis will be on a bit of a minutes restriction in his first game back, so projecting him for around 15 minutes is what we’re going with. The thing is, AD is the type of player who can put up points in that time frame, plus the Mavericks could be without Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber. If that’s the case, AD may be worth playing in season-long if you can afford the risk. There’s a chance he doesn’t do much in the 15 minutes or so.

In terms of DFS on DraftKings, AD is priced at $9,400. If you read the above, you know AD won’t play a ton of minutes, so there’s no way we can force him into a lineup at this price point. We’ll likely need to wait and see when Davis will have his minutes increased to a normal amount, somewhere in the 25-30 range would be OK at this price point. Until then, Davis is a fade. The only reason you’d think of playing him would be in GPPs as a leverage play in the event he somehow gets to 30-40 DKFP in just 15 minutes.

We’ll add an update on the betting side of things if we get some player props for AD at some point today.