The Lakers need AD back, badly.

Anthony Davis had an early exit from the Lakers’ Saturday game against the Golden State Warriors because of an eye contusion.

Davis went back to the Lakers’ locker room in between the first and second quarters after getting hit in the left eye by Trayce Jackson-Davis on a layup with 2:47 left in the first at Crypto.com Arena.

The All-Star big man didn’t get back on defense on the ensuing Warriors’ possession, resulting in a Klay Thompson 3-pointer that trimmed the Lakers’ lead to 29-25.

Davis stayed in the game until the final three seconds of the quarter, subbing out alongside Jaxson Hayes as part of an offensive-defensive substitution at the end of the quarter before heading back to the locker room in between quarters.

The Lakers had a 36-30 lead going into the second before getting outscored 37-30 during a quarter Davis didn’t play at all, leading to a 67-66 deficit at halftime.

Davis was officially ruled out early in the third quarter, finishing with eight points, four rebounds and two assists in 12 first-quarter minutes.

Backup big man Jaxson Hayes started the second half in place of Davis.

Davis has only missed four games this season, entering Saturday having played the sixth-most minutes (2,263) in the league.

SENSE OF URGENCYSpeaking pregame ahead of the marquee matchup, coach Darvin Ham said he feels the sense of urgency from his team entering a critical stretch of games.

The Lakers entered Saturday just one game ahead of the Warriors for the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference standings, but also 2½ games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 7 seed.

“I don’t want our guys to get weighed down by the circumstances that we’re playing under,” coach Darvin Ham said. “Being a ninth seed or 10th seed, with the fear of dropping games or whatever. I need them to be in a good mental space and know that we can control our own destiny.

“So, it gets heavy in terms of it’s not so much a lack of urgency as it is a disappointment in lack of performance. And you got to have that in order to have the urgency. Just be comfortable, be confident. If things don’t go right, you move onto the next play. But as long as you’re attacking each possession as competitively as possible, then you can live with the results.”

The Lakers have 14 games left in the regular season after Saturday.

“We put a slide up and broke down different records,” Ham said. “What happens if we reach those records with 15 left to go. But obviously, everyone is aware. We talked about it as a part of our film [Friday], just our dialogue. Knowing guys need to buckle down, but also taking one game at a time.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone else does, that’s situated around us if we drop games. We have to pour into each and every game. We can’t look over the person we’re about to play over their shoulder or whatnot. We have to focus and submerge ourselves in what’s exactly in front of us.”