Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis has been ruled out for the remainder of Thursday night’s Game 6 against the Phoenix Suns after aggravating his strained left groin in the first quarter.
Davis suffered the injury in Game 4 of the first-round series and sat out Game 5. He was a game-time decision Thursday night but was in the starting lineup after being cleared by the medical staff.
Davis appeared to be in pain after contesting a Devin Booker attempt in the first quarter, then came out of the game the next possession and sat on the floor by the Lakers’ bench, his head down. Having played just five minutes, he went back to the locker room. He later returned to the bench.
Lakers guard Alex Caruso also exited Thursday night’s Game 6 with a left ankle strain and was later ruled out for the game.
The seventh-seeded Lakers trail the second-seeded Suns 3-2 in the series, and a loss Thursday would make L.A. just the sixth defending champion in league history to lose in the first round of the playoffs the following year.
Davis averaged 34 points and 10.5 rebounds in L.A.’s two wins in the series. He had just one rebound and one assist with no points and a minus-7 plus/minus before his exit Thursday night.
With L.A. needing a win to extend its season, coach Frank Vogel was asked before the game whether he would allow Davis and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (who has been dealing with a sore knee) a longer leash to push through their injuries than he normally would.
“I mean, it’s just a feel thing,” Vogel said. “We’ll be communicating with the medical staff throughout, and obviously the coaching staff and I will be evaluating and measuring how well those guys are moving if they’re in there. … So we’ll look at the first half, each minute, each play, and evaluate that throughout the night.”
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.