Anthony Davis is having one of the best seasons of his career thus far for the Los Angeles Lakers. Through six games, he was leading the NBA in blocks per game (3.7) while scoring over 26 points per game and pulling in a career-high 13 rebounds while averaging nearly 39 minutes per contest. But the fear with Davis has always been health-related, and on Monday, he seemingly suffered the first injury of his season.

Late in the second quarter against the Miami Heat, Davis was dealing with some clear pain in his left side. At halftime, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that he was dealing with spasms in his hip and groin but would try to play through the pain in the second half. He was on the floor for the first few minutes of the third quarter, but ultimately could not stay in the game and had to return to the locker room.

The Lakers (3-3) beefed up their frontline this offseason by adding Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood, but they simply cannot afford to lose one of their two stars right now. Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt are also dealing with injuries at the moment, and depth has been an issue even after the offseason upgrades the Lakers made to their roster.

The Lakers entered Monday ranked 20th in the NBA in defense, and that was even with Davis leading the league in blocks. Right now, their perimeter defense is struggling to stay in front of anyone without Vanderbilt sidelined, and the offense, which Davis leads in scoring, is ranked only 21st. the Lakers have to hope this is a short-term injury, because this team simply is not equipped to survive without him for any significant stretch of time.