Lakers star Anthony Davis leaves Raptors game with eye injury

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anthony Davis walked into the Los Angeles Lakers locker room Midway through the third quarter on Sunday night after being punched in the face while blocking a dunk attempt by Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl.

The nine-time All-Star was ruled out for the rest of the night with an eye injury.

Davis blocked Poeltl’s dunk attempt in the lane one-handed, but Poeltl’s offhand hit Davis in the face and eyes.

As the Lakers’ home crowd cheered, Davis went down in obvious pain, rocking back and forth on the floor with his hands on his face. He lay there for about a minute before getting up and heading to the Lakers’ locker room.

Davis is off to an excellent start to the season, leading to early MVP talks. He had 22 points, four rebounds and two blocks before getting injured against the Raptors.

Jaxson Hayes took Davis’ place in the Lakers’ rotation and quickly contributed three dunks and a layup as the Lakers took the lead.

Davis led the NBA entering the night, scoring 32.4 points per game along with 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He has already had six 30-point games this season.

Davis missed last Wednesday’s game in Memphis because of a bruised left heel. The big man has a long history of injury problems, but last season he played a career-high 76 games.