Davis Misses Game Due to Ankle Injury

The continued rise of New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis has been one of the biggest stories in the NBAthis year. That narrative will be put on hold for a bit after Davis suffered an ankle injury during the team's shootaround prior to Thursday's game against the Phoenix Suns.  

The Pelicans announced that Davis suffered an injury during a shootaround and will not play Thursday night:

This is Davis' second noteworthy injury of the 2014-15 season. Back in February, he sprained his right shoulder after falling awkwardly while attempting to convert an alley-oop. Considering the way he landed, the Pelicans were lucky the problem wasn't more severe.

When he's played this year, Davis has been one of the best players in the NBA, if not the best. His averages are up nearly across the board from last year. He's scoring 24.6 points per game along with 10.4 boards and 2.9 blocks per contest.

At the beginning of the year, almost every NBA fan could see that the 22-year-old was among the league's brightest young stars, and he's more than living up to the hype so far.

Largely because of his performance, New Orleans remains in the thick of the Western Conference playoff hunt, which continues to be a welcome surprise. They're currently a half-game out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

However, the Pelicans' postseason hopes rest largely on Davis. The more time he misses, the smaller and smaller their playoff window becomes.