The Lakers’ season turned grim Friday afternoon when they announced Anthony Davis will be out indefinitely because of a right foot stress injury.
It turned grimmer a few hours later when the Charlotte Hornets, who had dropped to 8-24 after being clobbered by the Clippers earlier this week, took advantage of the Lakers’ sluggish and sometimes disinterested defense to score 62 points in the paint, 32 points off the Lakers’ 17 turnovers, and 29 fast-break points.
But things might have hit their grimmest point for the Lakers when center Thomas Bryant, who had capably filled in for Davis, hurt his right shoulder in the fourth quarter and missed the final 3 minutes and 16 seconds of the Hornets’ 134-130 victory before a rare sellout crowd at Crypto.