Some NBA insiders reportedly noticed Anthony Davis slowing down before the Dallas Mavericks announced last Friday he would miss time with a calf injury.
The Athletic’s Christian Clark wrote Friday that “multiple scouts and coaches from rival teams told The Athletic they felt [Davis] didn’t look as mobile as he normally does” during the first four games of the Mavericks’ season.
Davis still posted averages of at least 22 points and 10 rebounds during the Mavs’ 1-3 start to the season.
He left in the first quarter of his fifth game of the season, an Oct. 29 matchup with the visiting Indiana Pacers, with what the team described at the time as “left lower leg soreness.”
The Mavericks announced on Oct. 31 that Davis would miss at least two more games.
He has since missed three contests, most recently missing Wednesday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans as the Mavericks fell to 2-6 on the season.
As of Friday afternoon, he was listed as doubtful ahead of Friday night’s matchup with the host Memphis Grizzlies.
This marks the second straight season during which Davis has been limited by injury. He was held to just nine games with the Mavericks following his trade at the deadline last season.
It also marks the second consecutive campaign in which there has been scrutiny surrounding the conditioning level of a Mavericks star. That same focus followed Luka Dončić prior to his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
That attention turned to Davis when he arrived at Mavericks training camp weighing 268 pounds, a 15-pound increase from his weigh-in at Lakers training camp head of the 2024-25 season.
Davis spent at least part of the offseason recovering from eye surgery, which addressed an injury he suffered in April and will cause him to wear goggles for the remainder of his NBA career.
Head coach Jason Kidd said after the second game of the Mavs’ 2025-26 campaign that surgery had impacted Davis’ ability to work out this summer, and that he hoped “playing 36 minutes last night will help with that conditioning.”
Kidd will now need to wait for Davis to return from his latest injury before the Mavs can continue working on that conditioning.
