Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis will return from a calf injury on Friday against his former team, the LA Lakers. After suffering the injury on Oct. 29, AD was cleared by his medical team to play again on Nov. 8 against the Washington Wizards. Johann Bilsborough, the Mavs’ health and performance director, pushed back, prompting team governor Patrick Dumont to intervene.Dumont sidelined Davis until he received medical assurance that AD would not be at risk of a major injury if he played through the injury. The green light for Davis came after he sat out the Mavs’ past 14 games.According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Anthony Davis would be “on minutes restriction” for the showdown against the Lakers.Davis’ appearance at Crypto.com Arena will be his first since the Dallas Mavericks acquired him from the Lakers for Luka Doncic. AD was with the team in late February for a matchup against his former team, but he was unable to play due to a groin injury.After the Mavs scrimmaged on Thursday, Davis told reporters which of the back-to-back LA games he would prefer. He entered Friday’s game on the injury list as probable, a tag the Mavs will remove before tip-off.The 10x All-Star’s availability could push guard Brandon Williams to the bench, giving the Mavs a frontline of AD, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.Deandre Ayton and Lakers ready to face Anthony Davis and MavericksThe LA Lakers signed Deandre Ayton in the offseason as essentially their replacement for Anthony Davis. Ayton and AD will square off in one of the game’s most intriguing sub-headlines.Ayton responded when asked about guarding the 2020 NBA champ:“You don’t wanna foul him. AD’s (Davis) a great shotmaker. It takes the whole team to guard him. You treat him like a Giannis (Antetokounmpo), you treat him like a Jokic. … Try to throw two at him. One man really can’t guard him.”Ayton added that it will take “the whole team” to slow down Davis, who is pumped up to face the Lakers.The Mavs are 0-2 against the Lakers since the controversial Doncic-Davis trade. Anthony Davis looks to make the head-to-head battle more competitive when he plays for the first time since late October.