It’s official. Anthony Davis is going to play on his former home court for the first time. After hinting here and there the day before, AD has been cleared to return. There was no way he was missing the first opportunity to play against the Lakers in Crypto.com Arena. Coming off a month-long hiatus for calf injury, almost everyone expects he’d be on the floor for short bursts of time. Unexpectedly, we might see him do a lot more. We just hope the Lakers had enough notice to put together a welcome party.

AD is expected to be on minutes restriction. But it’s going to be a more generous restriction by most standards. Jason Kidd told reporters ahead of the game that AD will likely play 24-27 minutes.

If The Brow is back at full strength that might be enough. Or he might be so good, fans are going to rage when he’s pulled out of the game, just like Philly fans are mad at Nick Nurse for enforcing Paul George’s minutes restriction when he was on fire.

This will be his first game back in Crypto.com Arena since that February 2 trade. It’s the final group stage game in the inseason tournament for both teams, but it won’t be against a shiny NBA Cup court. Because Luka Doncic informally complained about it being slippery and the NBA took note. It doesn’t really matter to the Mavs.

The day the Lakers beat the Clippers, they clinched their spot in the Knockout Rounds. That automatically eliminated the Mavericks from contention. Tonight’s outcome won’t change that. But it was still not a game Anthony Davis was going to miss.

The last time the Lakers with Luka Doncic hosted the Mavericks after February 2, Anthony Davis was not in the lineup. He was sidelined by a left adductor strain last season. He started the 2025-26 season but only played for five out of the 19 games.

This is a developing story.