Anthony Davis’ injury is only a day-to-day groin problem. That’s great news for the Pelicans

Anthony Davis escaped from what looked like a potentially season-ending injury with a more mild groin issue, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Davis will be listed as day-to-day with the injury after an MRI result was negative, and the team says he has a “left abductor strain.”

Davis will not play in the Pelicans’ next game Monday, but this is much better news than the Pelicans and Davis could have expected.

The news was delayed more than 48 hours thanks to a second MRI conducted by the Pelicans, who wanted to confirm that there was no damage to Davis.

Davis dropped to the floor on Friday night with what was immediately considered a strained groin.

He couldn’t put any pressure on his legs and had to be picked up with the support of two others. He was put in a wheelchair:

Losing Davis for the year would have almost assured the Pels of missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Now, their hopes still live because the bottom of the Western Conference is suffering from a number of injured stars.

The Clippers are without Blake Griffin, Milos Teodosic and Patrick Beverley, the Nuggets are missing Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap, and Rudy Gobert is still out for the Jazz.

Losing Davis for some time will hurt, as the All-Star propels his team’s net rating by 18 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor. But at least his season isn’t over.

A playoff appearance for New Orleans would be nice, but the Pels are still leaps and bounds from a championship run. Their biggest obstacle will come this summer as the team attempts to re-sign Cousins as an unrestricted free agent.

Cousins has seen little success so far in New Orleans, though he and Davis have shared the court only 40 times. Had Davis missed the rest of the season, his run with the Pelicans was likely to end with a stack of losses. Now, he’ll have more time to assess his future alongside The Brow.

That’s good news for Cousins and the Pelicans.