Felt that the recent barrage of NBA news was going to be all about trade? Well, add in injury updates, too. ESPN’s Shams Charania recently broke the news that Anthony Davis underwent a procedure to repair a detached retina that he suffered during the season. Davis suffered multiple injuries last season, including a left adductor strain, groin injury, and an abdominal issue that restricted his availability. Amongst them were also recurring issues with corneal abrasions after the player kept getting hit in the face.

However, no such incident that prompted an injury has reportedly occurred in recent days. This led one individual to highlight that something foul was afoot regarding the news about the recent procedure.

A few hours ago, ‘The Shot Clock’ host and content creator Justin Morelli touched base on the recent update given out by Shams Charania. He highlighted NBA reporter Brett Siegel’s tweet, which claimed that a detached retina is “a time-sensitive injury that needs to be addressed within 48 hours to prevent long-term damage and vision loss”.

WITHIN 48 hours. Yet the procedure has been done only recently, aka more than 2-and-a-half months since the Dallas Mavericks last played a game. When running the question through an AI program, Morelli found that a ‘prompt’ procedure is required to prevent complications. This led the host to claim that the public were allegedly being fed lies, or Anthony Davis took a major risk with his health.

“So unless the Mavs and or Lakers team doctors are completely incompetent, that would mean for some reason, the Mavs are covering up when or how this injury happened” said Morelli. Towards the end of the video, he added that “The Mavs either traded Luka for a guy who was injury prone, and didn’t prioritize his health, or the timeline of this injury or the injury all together is a complete lie. But however you slice it, something ain’t right here. And the Mavs and the conspiracies always seem to go together”.

To further make his case, Justin Morelli highlighted NBA legend Amar’e Stoudemire’s eye injury he suffered during the 2008-09 NBA season. Stoudemire reportedly sustained a partially torn iris after being poked in the right eye by teammate Boris Diaw during training camp. Months later, he got poked in the same eye, again, by Clippers’ forward Al Thornton. That hit led to a partially detached retina.

During an interview on David Letterman’s show, the athlete revealed, “The doctor said I needed to have an emergency procedure. With that being said, I had to pretty much lay down on the table for 22 hours a day for 10 straight days in order to reattach the retina. You can’t move at all. Honestly, it was torture. It was extremely hard, but I read a lot, I watched DVDs on my laptop and I just slowly passed the time on. It was something that was extremely terrifying.”

Sure, technology and medicine have come a long way in the last 15 years. Even then, however, it’s hard to imagine that Anthony Davis suffered this injury in the middle of the year and didn’t address it right then and there.

It is possible that the detached retina simply didn’t occur until now. According to a study by PubMed Central (PMC), that observed 255 confirmed retinal detachments, 27% (69/255) was found that 72% (183/255) were identified only within the first month. The retinas of 5% (14/255) were detached more than one year after the open globe injury. Therefore, while it is rare, it is still not uncommon for retinas to detach months after the injury.

If one were Anthony Davis, they should really be careful when it comes to the eye. After all, issues in that part of the face have been troubling the player for a while now.

How many eye injuries did Anthony Davis sustain over the years?

Anthony Davis sustained the first eye injury of his NBA career back in July 2020. This occurred after he was poked by Khem Birch during a matchup against the Orlando Magic. The issue persisted for the next 5-6 days. Just as he had recovered from this injury, however, Davis had to deal with a new right ankle issue.

Next came a left eye contusion during a matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The player got hit in the face by Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis while scoring on a layup. He continued to play for the next few minutes, but eventually left the game and didn’t return.  Fortunately, the ailment was short-lived, and Davis returned for the next game.

Anthony Davis wasn’t even spared by his teammates. During a game against the Atlanta Hawks in April, the player, who was now with the Dallas Mavericks, sustained an injury in his right eye after Daniel Gafford accidentally elbowed him in his eye. Davis left the game bleeding and returned with a bandage above his right eye. A cut above his eye reportedly required four stitches. Yahoo! Sports Jason Owens claims this injury is behind Davis’s recent procedure.

The timing of the procedure certainly raises eyebrows. However, nothing can be claimed to be certain until more details are revealed. Till then, all one can do is speculate.