LA Lakers: Anthony Davis officially listed as injured, may miss Game 5

Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis, who acts as the tag-team partner for superstar LeBron James in the team most likely to win the NBA Championship, has a sprained left ankle and may not play against the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 on Saturday.

The Lakers released an official statement regarding Davis' injury and added him in their injured list as "questionable."

The Lakers are ahead 3-1 in the series, and the injury would unlikely change the series's fate even if Davis misses a game or two. However, if the injury is more severe than what the Lakers currently believe, it could affect their finals performance against either the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics.

According to Lakers Daily, Davis is known for playing through his injury. In the Western Finals series, Davis is exhausting Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on both ends of the floor, contributing heavily to the lead.

Davis sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of Game 4 that ended in a 114-108 Lakers victory. Ahead 3-1, it would appear that the Lakers do not want to risk further worsening his injury and hope to close out the series without him.

It's been 10 years since the Shaq-Kobe era, and the Lakers had not been in the finals in the last decade. The same could be said for the Boston Celtics compared to the Miami Heat, who still have some of their players such as Jimmy Butler and Andre Igoudala from their last championship campaign in their roster.

But the difference is, the Los Angeles Lakers is now led by LeBron James, who has been in the NBA finals eight times in the last decade. He may not have won all of them, but he certainly doesn't lack experience in leading a team to success.

According to an NBA.com article, Nikola Jokic alone cannot lift the Nuggets against the Lakers as he has done in the past. The Lakers are filled with superstars in the paint area with Dwight Howard, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James.

Even without Davis, Jokic is not enough against James and Howard. The rest of the Nuggets need to perform at a whole different level to win against the Lakers.