The Los Angeles Lakers will be back on the court on Wednesday night to face the Memphis Grizzlies after having two days off following their win against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. The Lakers won easily, even though star player Anthony Davis had to leave the game with an eye injury.
Davis was poked in the eye by Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl in the third quarter and couldn’t return. Jaxson Hayes stepped up and played well in his place, helping the Lakers secure the big win. However, the Lakers are eager to have Davis back in the lineup and want to avoid any more time missed.
It looks like Davis will play on Wednesday against the Grizzlies, but despite the eye injury, he quickly dismissed the idea of wearing goggles for protection.
“No,” Davis said firmly when asked if he would wear goggles. He explained why he doesn’t want to wear them, saying he only would if it’s necessary for his health.
“Because I don’t want to,” Davis explained. “I wore goggles for three years when I was younger. Just don’t want to, to be honest. Obviously, the doctor said I don’t have to, but if it gets to a point where the doctor orders me to, (I will).
I think Amar’e (Stoudemire) had to because of a risk of being blind if he gets hit in the eye or something like that, but that’s not the case for me. If it gets to that point where my eye doctor tells me that I need to wear them, then of course I will.
But I’ve been cleared to go out and play without them.” Although wearing goggles would remind Lakers fans of the iconic Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Davis is firm about not wearing them unless it’s medically necessary.
If Davis struggles with his vision on Wednesday, it will be interesting to see if he changes his mind during the game.
After the Raptors game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick mentioned that Davis had trouble seeing after the injury but did not have more updates.
“I just know that he got poked in it. He was having trouble seeing. Obviously, taking a trauma to the eye takes a little bit of time to get your clear vision back. But other than that, no update,” Redick said.
