READ MORE…
It was a couple days after another injury threatened to derail yet another season for him, and the Los Angeles Lakers big man was at his breaking point.
“I’m like, shaking,” Davis told ESPN last week, jittering his hand to illustrate his state on that day in December. “I’m just so mad and sad at the same time. … Frustrated.”
While making a routine post move to score over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic on Dec. 16, Davis felt a sharp pang, which indicated a complex problem in his right foot: A bone spur had fractured off the navicular bone, which was also suffering from a stress reaction. The crucial weight-bearing bone might have been chipped since his college days at the University of Kentucky, doctors speculated, but the bone bruise exacerbated it.
Davis rated the pain level at an 8 or 9 out of 10. And for someone who’s been through as much hard luck on his body as Davis has, there was some experience behind the estimation.
Medical personnel said the injury could sideline him for 8-to-10 weeks.
the pain in his foot and the anguish caused by the situation, sequestered himself in his home closet.
It wasn’t long before his wife, Marlen, and his 6-year-old daughter Nala, found Davis on the floor.
“She whispers to my wife, ‘Mommy, what’s wrong with Daddy?'” Davis recalled.
“She wants to come hug me but she’s scared to. So my wife was like, ‘It’s OK.’
“I see her and in my head I’m like, ‘Don’t come touching me.’ But she comes over, she gives me a quick hug, leaves, she sits back down and she says, ‘Mommy, I’ll be right back. I got an idea.'”
Nala scurried off, and Davis’ dour demeanor had already started to melt away as he toggled back to dad mode. But, he wanted to see what Nala would do when she returned, so he stayed on the floor with his hand over his face.
“At this point I’m trying to act,” Davis said, smiling at the ridiculousness of the scenario.
Nala returned a few minutes later and placed a piece of paper on the clothes pile next to him.
“Daddy, everything’s going to be OK,” Nala said.
