SAN FRANCISCO — Star big man Anthony Davis had an early exit from the Lakers’ Christmas Day matchup against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center because of a left ankle injury.
Davis turned his left ankle at the 6:49 mark of the first quarter Wednesday after Warriors forward Draymond Green missed a corner 3-pointer.
He fell to the floor and momentarily held the ankle before getting up but not crossing halfcourt on the Lakers’ following three offensive possessions before the Warriors called timeout midway through the first.
Davis played another minute before leaving the game at the 4:48 mark of the first, going back to the team’s locker room, where he stayed for the remainder of the game.
The Lakers officially ruled Davis out late in the third, saying he had suffered a sprained ankle.
Davis, who only missed one of 29 games entering Wednesday, went scoreless in the seven minutes he played, shooting 0 of 3 from the field.
Gabe Vincent started the second half in place of Davis alongside Austin Reaves, Max Christie, Rui Hachimura and LeBron James for the Lakers, who were already relying on more small-ball lineups recently in light of Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt being sidelined.
After a summer of being teammates and leading Team USA to a gold medal in the Paris Summer Olympics, James and Warriors star Steph Curry were back in familiar territory as opponents Wednesday.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who was Team USA’s head coach, offered his insight into what it was like coaching the two all-time greats.
“It was a thrill of a lifetime, honestly,” Kerr said pregame. “And I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of thrills in my basketball career. But watching those two guys, watching the way they led, the way they prepared behind the scenes, it was just beautiful to watch.
“And then the way they collaborated within that dynamic, there’s such a mutual respect between the two of them. The fact that they finally got to play together was such a thrill for them and so that in turn turned into a joy for all of us to witness it. Two of the all-time greats, the two, I would say the main kind of flag bearers for the league in this generation. It’s pretty awesome to watch them and to coach them.”
In addition to four previous consecutive Christmas Day matchups (2015-18), James’ and Curry’s teams matched up in four consecutive NBA Finals (2015-18), with Curry’s Warriors winning the championship in 2015, ’17 and ’18 and James’ Cleveland Cavaliers coming out on top in ’16 after coming back from a 3-1 series deficit.
“The same way that Magic [Johnson] and Larry [Bird] in the ’80s, [Michael Jordan] in the ’90s, Kobe [Bryant] for a long time, they’ve in some ways carried the league and the popularity, the growth, all that stuff,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “They’ve had a big part of that.
“And certainly those Finals, consecutive Finals against each other really helped in that. Overall just different careers, different legacies. But to me, those guys, both of them have a strong case if you wanted to have a Mount Rushmore of the greatest four NBA players of all time.”
Guard D’Angelo Russell was ruled out for Wednesday’s game because of a sprained left thumb (shooting hand) that he suffered in Monday’s home loss to the Detroit Pistons.
“He banged it,” Redick said. “Got elbowed. He got hit on his [thumb] and it’s on his shooting hand, so he’s just getting treatment.”
