Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis said he is nearing a return from a gluteus maximus contusion.

Lakers forward Davis has missed the past three NBA games due to the injury suffered against the New York Knicks last week.

The six-time All-Star escaped serious injury after landing heavily on his backside and he told reporters on Tuesday: "Right now, just talking to you? Zero [pain] right now.

"It's the movement that kind of gets me. But ... I'm getting closer to getting back on the floor with these guys."

"It was very painful," Davis continued. "Hard for me to walk, obviously. It was pretty tough for me to just roll over on my back and on my side at the initial point of contact.

"It was tough. I didn't want any speculation, but I was just praying that it wasn't anything too serious."

Davis – who has been averaging 27.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season – added: "Very relieving knowing that just based on how it felt, a day-to-day thing, [rather] than a fracture or anything like that where you need surgery and you're out weeks or months or whatever. I'm glad [that my return timeline], it's just based on how I feel.

"Every day it's getting better and I'm a lot closer than I was three days ago. Made some more progress today. When I feel like I'm able to get back to my old self and do the moves I've always done and be successful at it, that's when I'll be able to get back on the floor."

The Western Conference-leading Lakers (33-7) have not missed a beat in Davis' absence, extending their winning streak to nine games.

"This is L.A. You know everything I say will be quoted out of context. So I was going to make a joke, but I'm not going to joke because we definitely need Anthony Davis," said Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.

"But we are undefeated this week without him. Something along the lines of, 'Well, if you look at the statistics ...' I don't know what the joke would be. I'm not very funny."