Anthony Davis to undergo MRI on groin injury suffered in loss to Nuggets
New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis will undergo an MRI on his groin Thursday after landing awkwardly on his left leg during Wednesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Davis was helped off the court and briefly left the game when he tweaked his groin in the third quarter of Denver's 93-85 win. He returned, but was pulled late in the fourth when head coach Monty Williams sensed he wasn't right.
The 21-year-old was undergoing treatment following the game and was apparently extremely sore.
"It looks like he just has a groin injury right now," Williams said. "They'll MRI it tomorrow morning to find out for sure. The doctors wouldn't allow him to come back into the game if they didn't think it was safe. He probably pushed the issue a little bit so he could get back out there on the floor."
Davis finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in 37 minutes, but it wasn't enough to lift the Pelicans to victory. New Orleans had its season-high four-game winning streak snapped.
All appeared well when Davis re-entered the game, but now the Pelicans face a potentially stiff challenge if he's forced to miss any time. New Orleans is already without point guard Jrue Holiday until possibly the end of February due to a stress reaction in his lower left leg.
The Pelicans sit 2.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns for eighth place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, and also have a dangerous Oklahoma City Thunder team to worry about.
Davis, selected as a starter for the West in next month's All-Star Game, is the team-leader in points (24.5), rebounds (10.4), blocks (2.9) and steals (1.7), and has the top player efficiency rating in the NBA.
"All of our guys are important to us and I just didn't feel good about him being on the floor," Williams said about the decision to sit him down the stretch. "You can't risk a guy's career, he wants to be out there. Anyone would tell you that."
The Pelicans' next game is Friday against the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers, winners of six consecutive contests.