The Lakers have done whatever they needed to keep things afloat without Anthony Davis

Although it wasn't pretty, especially given the competition, the Lakers’ win over the Rockets on Monday did continue what has been a larger, successful trend of treading water without Anthony Davis.

Since he went down with an injury back in December, the Lakers are now 9-8 in their 17 games without Davis and still find themselves in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

Even though there have been heartbreaking losses and continued foibles in the clutch during this stretch, the team has in totality kept the ship afloat without their star big man. And now, his return may look to be coming sooner than what was initially expected.

After a string of vague timetables and wording regarding Davis’ injury rehabilitation, fans may have gotten their first specific reporting on when he may be back on the court.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the team’s current “hope” is for Anthony Davis to return to action before the All-Star break, which as of this article would be just a few weeks away.

While the update on Davis is obviously encouraging news for the Lakers’ short and long term prospects, the team may also get back even more reinforcements soon as well.

Prior to the team’s contest against Atlanta, Darvin Ham provided updates on Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker, stating both players are only “days away” from their follow-up examinations which will likely determine how soon both will be back in the lineup. Walker, specifically, hasn't played since December 28th.

With Patrick Beverley’s return the starting lineup on Monday, and the encouraging updates on Davis, Reaves and Walker, the Lakers may finally be getting over the injury hump at just the right time. This brings us to today’s episode.

On this edition of Talk-O-Tuesday, hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla recapped the Lakers’ win over the Rockets, then discussed the latest injury updates on Davis and why the timing is important for he and his teammates’ returns.

The duo also took a look ahead at a difficult upcoming slate of games and question if there’s anything to the team being noticeably absent in the latest league wide trade rumblings.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.