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Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis has been ruled out for the remainder of Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers with an abdominal strain, the team announced (h/t ESPN’s Dave McMenamin).
Davis played just 10 minutes before exiting with the injury. He finished his night with four points and two rebounds.
Davis, who is leading the Lakers by averaging 26.3 points and 12.1 rebounds through 41 games, had enjoyed a mostly healthy season heading into Tuesday’s game.
Prior to Christmas Day, the center-forward sat out a single contest with left plantar fasciitis on Nov. 6 before returning to the court two days later.
LeBron James, who missed two contests in December amid left foot injury management, recently indicated he would be “open to” missing games for load management purposes going forward (h/t Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic.)
If the NBA’s all-time leading scorer does decide to make sitting out games a regular part of his schedule going forward, Davis’ availability will be more important to the Lakers than ever as they look to lean on him in James’ absence.
