Anthony Davis is finally getting back onto the court for game action for the Dallas Mavericks.
Fittingly, it comes Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
This will be the first game that AD plays in L.A. against his former team since the shocking February trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
Davis was out with a left calf strain. He missed 14 games with the injury.
That absence extended back to Oct. 29, when he departed early after hurting his calf. It's been just about a month that Davis was out.
That begs the question of how much Davis can actually do out there on the floor.
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Is Anthony Davis on a minutes restriction?
Yes, AD is expected to be on a minutes restriction for Friday night's Mavericks game against the Lakers.
This is what NBA insider Marc Stein wrote on X:
"The expectation, I'm told, is that Anthony Davis will be on a yet-to-be-announced minutes restriction once he is officially activated for Mavericks-at-Lakers tonight and his first game action since Oct. 29."
How many minutes? That's harder to say.
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That depends on a lot of factors, but the Mavericks would likely head into the night figuring they want to keep Davis' stints on the floor shorter.
Maybe they break him into six-minute increments and do four of those to end up at 24. Maybe it's four of eight to get to 32.
Somehow, though, it sounds like the Mavs will be keeping extra close track of Davis' playing time, as they should. It'd be brutal to get him back only to lose him to injury again.
Unless Jason Kidd reveals something pregame, though, it's impossible to know how many minutes Davis will actually be planned to play.
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