Davis out at least 1 week with abdominal strain

Los Angeles Lakers star forward Anthony Davis will be re-evaluated in one week after leaving Tuesday's 118-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with a strained abdominal muscle, the Lakers announced Wednesday.

Davis underwent an MRI that confirmed the injury. He will return to Los Angeles for his recovery with the Lakers halfway through a four-game Eastern Conference road trip.

The 31-year-old was hurt in the first quarter and headed to the locker room with 2:10 remaining in the frame. He finished with four points, two rebounds, and a steal in 10 minutes.

"When our best player goes out it's always challenging, especially in the game," Lakers co-star LeBron James said after the defeat, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "If he's out from the beginning and we have a game plan set, we know what to expect, we know what our lineup's going to be.

"But when AD goes down or any of our guys go down throughout the course of the game, it's just tough."

Davis has been critical to JJ Redick's squad, averaging a team-high 25.7 points along with 11.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.1 blocks, and 1.3 steals through 42 starts this season - his 13th in the NBA. He was also having one of the healthiest seasons of his career, having missed just three games.

Despite Tuesday's loss, the Lakers (26-19) hold a top-six playoff seed in the Western Conference. However, the seventh-place Minnesota Timberwolves are just 1.5 games back of fifth-place Los Angeles. The Lakers aren't safe from missing the postseason entirely, either; they're only three games clear of the 11th-place Golden State Warriors with nearly half of the regular season remaining.