Anthony Davis temporarily exits Pelicans game with ankle injury

New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis exited Tuesday’s game with an ankle injury, but X-rays were negative and he should be all right.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis left a game with an injury.

Luckily for the Pellies and their dwindling playoff hopes, this most recent ding on an otherwise perfect luxury ride doesn’t appear to be too serious.

In New Orleans’ Tuesday night game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Davis turned his ankle guarding Al-Farouq Aminu and went to the locker room. According to NBA sideline reporter Jennifer Hale, the Brow underwent X-rays in the locker room:

Scott Kushner of The Advocate reported that Davis was questionable to return, bringing some slight relief about the severity of the injury since X-rays being involved that quickly was a worrisome sign.

Hale soon reported the good news: Anthony Davis’ X-rays came back negative and he planned to get his ankle re-taped and return for the second half.

At the break, New Orleans led Portland 50-36 behind 14 points, five rebounds and three steals from DeMarcus Cousins. Davis had six points, seven boards and two blocks in his 13 first half minutes, going just 2-for-7 from the field.

This is obviously tremendous news for the Pelicans, not only for their desperate playoff push, but also for the short-term and long-term future of the franchise. It’s no secret that the Brow is one of the NBA’s most injury-prone players, and having just turned 24, the time is now for AD to start assembling a roster that could become a future title contender.

Trading for Boogie at the deadline was the first step in doing so, but with Cousins hitting free agency in 2018, the pressure is on for Davis to stay healthy and for the Pelicans to start acquiring more championship-caliber talent to keep their star-studded frontcourt intact for the foreseeable future.

So far this season, Davis has suited up in 63 games, but as ESPN’s Justin Verrier points out, he’s had to leave 12 of them due to injury.

Anthony Davis is basically the NBA’s Tin Man at this point. He’s dealt with a myriad of injuries in his four and a half seasons in the league, with 68 games in 2014-15 representing his career-high for a single season.

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That means that through the first four seasons of his career, Davis missed at least 14 games every time. If he plays in every single one of the Pelicans’ remaining 15 games, he’ll reach a career-high 78 games, so assuming this latest ankle tweak isn’t anything serious, perhaps the 2016-17 season will finally be different.