Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura Injury Status Revealed For Nuggets Game

The availability of two ailing Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt starters ahead of the team’s first meeting this year with the Denver Nuggets — the team that has kicked them out of the last two playoffs — has been revealed.

According to Jovan Buha from The Athletichead coach JJ Redick will start his traditional starting five: point guard Austin Reaves, shooting guard Cam Reddish, forwards Rui Hachimura and LeBron James and center Anthony Davis.

Hachimura returns to the lineup after missing LA’s last three games with a right ankle sprain. In those contests, rookie swingman Dalton Knecht had started for Hachimura and had been so good that there had been some question of whether he had permanently taken Hachimura’s spot—or perhaps Reddish’s when Hachimura recovered.

Davis is dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot but has played through it.

According to the league’s latest injury reportLos Angeles center Jaxson Hayes (right ankle sprain), center/power forward Christian Wood (left knee surgery recovery) and power forward Jarred Vanderbilt (right foot surgery recovery) all remain on the shelf with their various ailments. Neither Wood nor Vanderbilt has yet to make his 2024-25 season debut for Los Angeles following their offseason procedures, and their timelines are rather uncertain.

Two guards who aren’t part of Redick’s rotation at all now won’t get the opportunity to be a part of it Saturday night: rookie point guard Bronny James is battling a left heel contusion, while rookie two-way guard Quincy Olivari is out. with a right ankle sprain. Second-year combo guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, LA’s no. 17 selection out of Indiana in the 2023 NBA Draft, is only questionable due to a lingering left hamstring strain.

The 10-5 Lakers host the matchup at Crypto.com Arena, where they are 7-1 and understandably (marginal) 3.5-point betting favorites to win, per Michael Arinze of The Action Network.

For the Nuggets, power forward Aaron Gordon is out for a while with a right calf strain, small forward Vlatko Cancar is on the shelf with a left knee sprain, power forward DaRon Holmes II continues to recover from right Achilles tendon surgery, two-small forward Spencer Jones is with Denver’s NBAGL team, the Grand Rapids Gold, and shooting guard Jalen Pickett is on assignment to the G League.

Denver (8-6) will play the second night of a back-to-back set, after falling one possession short of defeating the Dallas Mavericks without All-NBA superstar guard Luka Doncic, 123-120, on Friday night.

The game tips off at 7:30 PM PT on NBA TV.

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