Anthony Davis was forced to exit the Los Angeles Lakers' 127-117 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday after taking a Kyle Anderson elbow to his left eye on a rebound attempt late in the first quarter.

AD headed to the Crypto.com Arena tunnel before the second quarter and was ruled out shortly after halftime.

The Timberwolves outscored the Lakers — who were also playing without LeBron James (flu-like symptoms) — 46-27 in the second period.

Davis had four points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 12 minutes. The Lakers entered Sunday as winners of eight of their past nine games.

Davis was treated in the locker room for the same left eye injury that forced him out of the Lakers' March 16 loss to the Golden State Warriors, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. That night, Davis' eye was swollen shut by halftime. The injury was labeled a “left eye abrasion.”

AD was able to play two days later — dropping 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting and grabbing 14 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks — though he had to visit the eye doctor beforehand. (If you're wondering, Davis said he was opposed to wearing goggles because he had already experienced that “phase” in high school.)

“Just couldn't see,” he said after the March 18 Hawks game. “The corneal abrasion was actually right in the middle of my eye. It wasn't like off to the side. So anytime I looked, it was blurry. My eye was swollen. I thought my eye was open but it wasn't. Just kept watering. It felt like sand was in my eye. So it was just better closed. And I couldn't really see.”

The loss dropped the Lakers (45-34) behind the Sacramento Kings (45-33) for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The New Orleans Pelicans (46-32) and Phoenix Suns are tied for the No. 6 seed, while Golden State (43-35) sits 1.5 games behind Los Angeles.

The Lakers host the Warriors on Tuesday.

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham confirmed postgame that AD's injury was the same as he suffered against Golden State but had “no updates” otherwise.

Davis had been listed as probable on the Lakers' injury report with the left knee hyperextension stemming from the March 26 double-overtime win at the Milwaukee Bucks.

In addition to LeBron, Gabe Vincent (knee recovery) sat out against Minnesota — the second leg of a back-to-back off a long road trip.

Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood are still sidelined, leaving Ham with only Jaxson Hayes, Rui Hachimuram and two-way players Harry Giles III and Colin Castleton as the center options against Rudy Gobert (18 points, 16 rebounds) and Naz Reid (31 points, 11 rebounds).

Hayes more than held his own, at least offensively, bouncing his way to 19 points and 10 rebounds as the depleted Lakers' made an admirable push in the third quarter.

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“Huge,” Russell said about Hayes' contributions in place of Davis. “He was amazing. He's gonna make a lot of money this summer being on this main stage all these nights. Teams get to see him dominate his minutes. Playing behind AD all season and whenever he gets just a little bit of time he dominates it.”

Hayes is averaging 12.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per 36 minutes.

“Kudos to him. He's been hanging in there all year. Been doing everything we need him to do. Like I said, he's gonna make a lot of money this summer.”

In 35.8 minutes per game this season, Davis is averaging 24.7 points (55.5% shooting), 12.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals. He's appeared in 73 of the Lakers' 79 games in 2023-24.

The Lakers finish the regular season at the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the Pelicans on April 14.