Anthony Davis Injured His Right Shoulder In Game 1 Against The Grizzlies

As Game 1 of their first round matchup began in Memphis on Sunday afternoon, the Lakers leaned heavily on Anthony Davis in the early going. Davis had 10 points, six rebounds, five blocks, and two assists in his first 18 minutes of action, dominating the paint on both ends in the first half.

Unfortunately, late in the second quarter Davis suffered a right shoulder injury in a battle for a rebound with Jaren Jackson Jr.. After Jackson knocked the ball away from Davis and out of bounds, the All-Star center came up holding his arm and appeared to tell the Lakers bench “I can’t move my arm.”

Davis would get worked on briefly on the bench before being taken back to the locker room for further work and evaluation from the Lakers trainers, with reporters in the arena noting he didn’t move his arm at all while he was on the court and walking back into the tunnel.

Given Davis’ injury history and importance to the Lakers having any chance at a deep playoff run, there is considerable concern for the Lakers and their fans seeing him go down this early in the series. He has had right shoulder issues in the past, and the hope will be this was just a stinger and is something he can return from fairly quickly and without causing him any extended discomfort as this series moves forward.

UPDATE: The initial diagnosis is a stinger, per Adrian Wojnarowski, but they’re going to continue testing him during halftime.

Davis was available to return to the game, per the team, and was on the court for warmups with the team after the half, which is very good news for L.A..

It’ll be worth monitoring if the same level of aggression is there for Davis after such a dominant first half, but given he was the lone Lakers starter with a positive +/- in the first half, having him back certainly raises their chances to come back from six down at the half.