Anthony Davis Ruled Out for Lakers vs. Suns with Back Injury

Anthony Davis won't take the court for Wednesday's preseason game against the Phoenix Suns.

The Los Angeles Lakers announced the big man will sit out for precautionary reasons due to lower back tightness. Los Angeles felt it wasn't worth risking further injury for a preseason game, which comes two days after he did play against the Sacramento Kings.

The University of Kentucky product played 16 minutes against the Kings and impressed with a double-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and one steal in the 105-75 loss.

On paper, holding a star player out of a preseason game with back tightness doesn't seem to be a major deal. After all, having everyone healthy and available when the games begin to count in the standings is the most important thing of any preseason.

However, any injury to Davis is sure to raise concern.

After all, he played just 40 games last season and 36 games in 2020-21. He has never played more than 75 games in a single season since he entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2012 NBA draft.

While Davis is building a Hall of Fame resume that includes a championship, four All-NBA selections, eight All-Star nods and a spot on the league's 75th Anniversary Team, durability concerns have plagued him recently.

His availability, or lack thereof, was one of the reasons the Lakers were arguably the NBA's most disappointing team last season and finished outside of the playoffs and play-in tournament with a 33-49 record.

They elected to keep the same core in place for the 2022-23 campaign instead of making major changes, so Davis will need to stay healthy if the Purple and Gold are going to challenge the best teams in the Western Conference and bounce back from last season's efforts.

Otherwise, there will be too much pressure on the combination of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, which would be less than ideal since the former turns 38 years old in December and the latter struggled to adjust to his new team in his first season with Los Angeles.