AD unfazed by injuries this season: 'My training methods were top tier'
The Los Angeles Lakers were officially eliminated Tuesday from play-in contention, and star big man Anthony Davis knows his lack of availability played a large role in the team's underwhelming results.
Davis has appeared in only 40 of the Lakers' regular-season games this season. He missed 17 contests with an MCL sprain, then another 18 games due to a right mid-foot sprain.
The eight-time All-Star said that any NBA player wouldn't have avoided lengthy absences from similar injuries.
"I had no injuries this year where it was, 'Damn, that's AD's fault,'" Davis said, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Someone falls into my leg, sprains my MCL. The same exact thing (Kevin Durant) had."
Davis added that he doesn't intend to change his offseason routine to prevent further injuries since the team doctor told him that his training last summer decreased the severity of his ailments.
"To be honest, my training methods were top tier. I can't control stepping on someone's foot, and I can't control someone falling into my leg," Davis said.
Davis has missed 76 of a possible 152 games dating back to the start of the 2020-21 campaign.