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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis aggravated a left eye injury and was ruled out of the second half of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 127-117 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Davis was inadvertently hit in the face by Wolves forward Kyle Anderson late in the first quarter when scoring off an offensive rebound. Davis immediately went to the floor after the play and covered his face with his hands.
The putback dunk gave L.A. a 35-30 lead with 24.2 seconds remaining in the first.
Davis went to the locker room for evaluation and did not return.
There is optimism that Davis will be able to return to the lineup Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.
Without Davis, the Wolves outscored the Lakers — who also were without LeBron James (flu-like symptoms) — 46-27 in the second quarter.
Davis suffered a corneal abrasion to his left eye during the Lakers’ 128-121 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 16.
The Lakers big man was struck in the eye by Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis in the first quarter and similarly had to exit the game early.
The injury required Davis to seek medical attention from a specialist after his vision was temporarily impaired and his eyelid was swollen shut, sources told ESPN.
“I just couldn’t see,” Davis later explained. “The corneal abrasion was actually right in the middle of my eye. It wasn’t like off to the side. So anytime I looked it was blurry. My eye was swollen. I thought my eye was like, [torn] open. But it wasn’t. It kept watering. It just felt like sand was in my eye.”
With Sunday’s loss, L.A. dropped from the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference to the ninth, half a game behind the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers have three games remaining in their regular-season schedule and host the West’s No. 10 team, the Warriors, on Tuesday.