The latest on BD

There was a mild breakout of panic when a couple of reports hit the internet last night, saying that Baron Davis could miss 4-6 weeks if his finger injury requires surgery.

I posted a blog about the situation last night, after talking to several players, coaches, and Baron's agent about the situation and at that point, the general consensus was that it a minor injury and Davis would probably miss this week's exhibition games, but would be ready to roll for the start of the season.

So what's the real story?

Well, the 4-to-6 week estimate is a worst-case scenario. Davis is seeing Dr. Roy Meals at UCLA this afternoon and we're expecting to hear the results later on today. But most of the people we spoke with today, including coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy, felt the more likely scenario would be a three-week recovery period. That's three weeks from the actual injury, which was last Friday, October 17.

``I'm not a doctor, but that's not my impression of the case,'' Dunleavy said, when asked if he expected Davis to miss an extended period of time. ``I don't want to influence a doctor, but off of what I've heard, it was very minor and he needed to see a specialist.

``It's more than likely be anywhere from under three weeks, splinted or whatever, and depending on pain tolerance, maybe sooner.''

In other words, officially cross Davis out of this week's exhibition games, but a return the first week of the season is still a possibility.

As for that worst-case scenario, Dunleavy didn't really want to consider it, but if it did come to that, here's what he'd do.

``We'd have to start thinking about a third guard in case someone got in foul trouble or injured,'' Dunleavy said. ``We'd probably try Eric (Gordon) there some as well.''