The Anthony Davis injury story went quiet months ago, and that is the problem. He last stepped on an NBA floor in January. Since then he has changed teams, sat out a full stretch run, and watched a rebuild start without him. For a closer look at this, see Wemby Injury Update.
The short version: Davis has not appeared in a game since January 8, 2026, when he played for Dallas at Utah. Ligament damage in his left hand, along with a groin problem, ended his year. Washington acquired him four weeks later, and he never suited up for the Wizards.
Anthony Davis injury status at a glance
Here is where things stand at the end of July 2026. Everything below comes from box scores, team statements and official injury reports, the same sourcing we apply across our wider sport coverage.
| Detail | Where it stands |
| Current team | Washington Wizards, No. 23, forward-center |
| Age | 33 (born March 11, 1993) |
| Last game played | January 8, 2026, Dallas at Utah |
| 2025-26 line | 20 games, 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.7 blocks |
| Reported problem | Ligament damage in the left hand, plus a groin issue |
| Season-ending call | Coach Brian Keefe, April 2026: not expected to play again |
| Games for Washington | Zero |
| 2026-27 salary | $58,456,566, fully guaranteed |
| 2027-28 | $62,786,682 player option, then free agency |
Key takeaways
- He belongs to Washington for 2026-27 and controls his own option after that.
- His most recent game came for another team, in the other conference.
- Light contact clearance came before the season closed, so the hand had already begun healing.
- Availability, not talent, is the whole question now.
How his 2025-26 season came apart
It never settled. Davis showed up on Dallas injury reports in the opening week and kept showing up. An Achilles note, a leg issue the very next day, three separate calf entries before Christmas. None of it kept him out long.
Then came the hand.
- October 28, 2025: an Achilles listing in the first week of the schedule.
- November and December 2025: three calf entries, an illness, and a groin problem on Christmas Day.
- January 8, 2026: he plays at Utah for 21 points and 11 rebounds, then lands on the report with a hand injury.
- February 4, 2026: a finger listing, one day before the trade.
- April 2026: Brian Keefe rules him out for the rest of the year.
Chris Haynes of NBA on Prime reported the pairing that finished his season: the hand and the groin together. One diagnosis mattered more than the rest: ligament damage in the left hand, which moved him from week to week into out indefinitely.
Fourteen seasons, 807 games
Strip the noise away and one number carries the argument. By our count his teams have played 1,127 regular season games since he entered the league in 2012, and he has played 807 of them. That is about 72%, or roughly one full season lost every four years.
| Season | Team | Games played |
| 2012-13 | New Orleans | 64 |
| 2013-14 | New Orleans | 67 |
| 2014-15 | New Orleans | 68 |
| 2015-16 | New Orleans | 61 |
| 2016-17 | New Orleans | 75 |
| 2017-18 | New Orleans | 75 |
| 2018-19 | New Orleans | 56 |
| 2019-20 | Lakers | 62 |
| 2020-21 | Lakers | 36 |
| 2021-22 | Lakers | 40 |
| 2022-23 | Lakers | 56 |
| 2023-24 | Lakers | 76 |
| 2024-25 | Lakers, then Dallas | 51 |
| 2025-26 | Dallas | 20 |
Look at 2023-24 before you write him off. He played 76 games that year, a career high, at age 30. His availability line does not fall in a straight diagonal. It swings hard, and the swings have never lined up neatly with age.
Ten All-Star selections, five All-NBA teams and the 2020 title still put him among the careers we cover in our NBA athlete profiles.
Why Dallas moved him and Washington paid for him
Dallas had run out of road. Under interim coach Matt Riccardi, the Mavericks finished 26-56 and fell out of the playoff race on March 23, 2026, the second year running.
On February 5, 2026, one day after that finger listing, Dallas sent him to Washington in a three-team deal that also pulled in Charlotte. In that same trade, the Wizards absorbed D’Angelo Russell, Dante Exum and Jaden Hardy, and they surrendered a stack of draft picks to make it happen. They paid that price for a 33-year-old who could not play.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported that Dallas closed the deal without consulting Rich Paul, who represents Davis. Team officials then said publicly that they expected to see him on the floor before the year ended. That did not happen.
What the research says about a missed game
“Day to day” hides more than it reveals. A 2025 study in Sports Health drew on the NBA’s own league-wide injury surveillance across six seasons. It found that 33.6% to 38.5% of the injuries logged each year cost a player at least one game. It also found that 73% of those game-loss injuries had an acute onset, meaning a single moment rather than a slow breakdown.
Two things follow for Davis. Hand ligament damage is a sudden event, so a clean recovery is a reasonable expectation rather than wishful thinking. His calf, though, flagged three times inside seven weeks, and repeat soft-tissue notes are the ones that tend to come back.
Will he be ready for 2026-27?
Most signals point that way.
After Anthony Davis injury, Washington cleared him for limited individual basketball work, then for light contact, before the season closed. That is the standard ladder back from a hand repair: no contact, then controlled contact, then full five-on-five. Camp opens in late September, which leaves a long runway from those spring clearances.
Three things worth watching once he is back on the floor:
- Grip and shooting touch, which lag well behind a healed hand.
- His calf, which flared three times before the hand ever became an issue.
- His workload. He averaged 31.3 minutes last season, already down from his Lakers peak.
Expect tape, and possibly a splint, into the fall. Protective gear changes grip and feel far more than most fans assume, a subject our basketball equipment reviews get into properly.
The trade noise around him this summer
Free agency turned him into a bargaining chip he had no vote on. Golden State pushed hard to trade for him while chasing LeBron James, who signed with the Philadelphia 76ers instead. Reporting through July had the Warriors treating a Davis deal as the entry fee for that signing.
Washington said no, and kept saying it. Front office messaging has not wavered all month: no trade talks. Rich Paul met the front office to talk through his client’s future, and Davis himself has signaled real interest in what the team is building.
So a 33-year-old with $58.5 million guaranteed sits on a roster that won 17 games and drafted AJ Dybantsa first overall in June. On paper, it reads like an awkward fit. It is also precisely the situation Washington spent picks to create, which is why the front office keeps hanging up the phone.
What to watch next
Two dates carry real weight. Media day in late September, when Washington has to say something concrete about the hand, and opening night, when we all find out whether the answer holds up.
We refresh this page when the team or a credited reporter puts out an actual medical note, never when a rumor account posts a screenshot. You can read how the Gamerlume editorial team handles that. Bookmark it and check back at camp.
Frequently Asked Questions
He ended 2025-26 with ligament damage in his left hand and a groin problem, and Brian Keefe ruled him out for the season in April. Trainers had cleared him for light contact before that. No fresh setback has surfaced this summer.
The Washington Wizards. He arrived on February 5, 2026, and has yet to play a single game for them.
January 8, 2026, for Dallas at Utah. He put up 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists that night.
By our count, he has played 807 of 1,127 possible regular-season games across 14 seasons, so he has missed roughly 320.
Dallas had dropped out of the race and wanted the picks. Washington wanted a recognizable name to anchor a rebuild, and it had cap room and assets to spend.
Golden State tried in July and got nowhere. Washington keeps saying it is not exploring a deal, and his agent has met the front office rather than pushed for an exit.
