DALLAS — With LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers always feel they have a puncher’s chance against any opponent.

The problem is the franchise’s two biggest stars are rarely on the court at the same time.

A deep sigh escaped Coach Frank Vogel’s lips Monday afternoon after practice, as he weighed the timing of the latest cruel twist of fate. For the first time since his mid-February foot sprain, Davis was able to go through a full practice with contact and scrimmaging. But as Davis took a big step toward a comeback, James took a step back: His left ankle swelled up a day after twisting it hard in New Orleans.

Both James and Davis are listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks – and the Lakers’ ability to secure a play-in tournament spot with eight games remaining is slipping into doubt as well.

“It’s been that type of year,” Vogel said. “Definitely snakebitten with trying to get those guys on the floor together.”

Since the high of the 2019-20 championship season, the Lakers have labored to keep their dynamic duo on the court at the same time. In that first season together, James and Davis were the team’s most-played two-man combo: They logged 1,455 minutes across 59 games in the regular season, outscoring opponents by 7.9 points per 100 possessions.

In the two seasons since, they’ve played just 48 games and 1,147 minutes together according to NBA tracking data. They have always been a good on-court fit, but it hasn’t happened enough.

During those two years, it has often seemed just as one of the stars is getting healthy, the other gets hurt. Davis missed much of last season with an Achilles injury – shortly after the All-Star break, Atlanta’s Solomon Hill landed on James’ knee and only came back with two games left in the regular season. The Lakers memorably took a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series with the Phoenix Suns before Davis injured his groin, leading to three consecutive losses.

This season, James missed time with an abdominal strain in November, then Davis sprained his knee in December. The two were together for just one game in Brooklyn before James’ own knee caused him to miss five straight. James and Davis shared the court for just five more games before Davis sprained his foot landing on Utah center Rudy Gobert. In 21 total games together this season, the duo hasn’t played more than seven of those in a row.

Earlier this month, Davis acknowledged that not knowing how much longer James’ prime will last was one of the most frustrating things about being injured so often.

“We don’t know how long he has left in this league,” he said. “Phenomenal player, future Hall of Famer, and to be able to play alongside him, you want to take advantage of it. We did the first year. Last year we both were banged up, and then this year, it’s (injuries) again but more so me. So every day it’s closing. That’s another frustrating part.”

Other missteps have led the Lakers down the path to their 31-43 season so far, but being able to play James and Davis together might have covered up some of the roster’s flaws. The Lakers are 11-10 when both play.

It’s a key part of why Vogel (who has a 125-92 record over three seasons) said this campaign has been the hardest in his coaching career.

“I would say probably, just because of the expectations that we had,” he said. “Had too many difficult nights and I think there’s an element of being a part of managing LeBron’s legacy in these final years of his career, and you want to just give him the best opportunity to have team success throughout that. So, we haven’t won at the level we wanted to.”

Davis has spent the last two weeks doing non-contact work and conditioning outside of practice. He has missed 16 straight games, and given that he’s rehabbing another lower-body injury, getting back in shape has been tough. The Lakers are primarily concerned with Davis’ soreness in his foot – if it responds well to the workload, they’ll keep progressing in his rehab – but Vogel added that they don’t want him to get injured again by rushing back.

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“If you throw him out there and he doesn’t have his wind, then he becomes – the injury becomes compromised,” he said. “You over-compromise in certain ways, and you don’t want that. So it’s definitely going to be a stretch here when we get him back when he’s still getting his legs under him.”

Whenever Davis comes back, all eyes will then be on James – who seemed particularly at a loss after falling to the Pelicans.

As he dourly cradled his head in his palm on Sunday night after the latest injury, James was asked if the Lakers had properly understood the stakes of the game. He said he had, shaped by his 10 trips to the NBA Finals.

“We have guys that understand it, we have a bunch of vets as well,” he said. “I believe myself, Russ, Melo, A.D. – he understands it, but he’s not in uniform.”

If the Lakers’ luck continues to run dry, James might not be in uniform either.