Anthony Davis agrees to three-year contract extension with Lakers
All-Star forward Anthony Davis agreed to a three-year maximum extension with the Lakers on Friday, just hours after talks began, tying him to the team for the next five seasons in a deal that could be worth up to $186 million.
Davis had two years remaining on his contract, the second of which was a player option. Had he not agreed to stay with the Lakers through the 2027-28 season, Davis could’ve become a free agent next summer.
The annual average of $62 million per season would be the most lucrative in NBA history, eclipsing the $60.8-million annual salary that the Boston Celtics gave Jaylen Brown in a five-year, $304-million extension last week.
Davis, when healthy, has been a force for the Lakers. In his first season with the team, he helped the Lakers win a championship. Last season, his fourth with the organization, Davis and the Lakers made it to the Western Conference finals before losing to eventual champion Denver.
Davis, 30, has struggled with injuries — playing only 76 combined games in his second and third seasons with the Lakers. The team didn’t win a playoff series in those years.
Last season, Davis returned from a foot injury to push the Lakers back from a disastrous season to a deep run in the playoffs, thanks largely to his defensive dominance. He averaged 25.9 points, a career-high 12.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocked shots and 1.1 steals, then upped his rebounding average to 14.1 and his blocks to 3.1 in the postseason. Both led the league.
With free agency and summer league behind us, there is plenty to discuss with the Lakers, like Anthony Davis. A question-and-answer session with fans.
Davis’ decision comes on the heels of a productive offseason for the Lakers, in which they executed their plans in the draft and free agency.
Asked about next season following the Lakers’ loss in the conference finals, Davis said he was unsure of how the team’s core might look.
“Whoever we have coming to training camp with the mind-set of building that chemistry, building that foundation, me and LeBron [James] setting the tone, trying to get back here and further, I think we are more than capable of doing so,” Davis said.
The decision to accept the extension can be viewed as an endorsement of what the team did — re-upping with free agents Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura while adding veterans like Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince. The Lakers also added former first-round picks Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish, and they remain interested in 7-foot center Christian Wood for their 14th roster spot.
Following that end to last season, Davis said he believed he and James still are a championship duo.
“For the most part, we were healthy through the second half of the year, and we were able to make it to the Western Conference finals. Like I said, it’s not the end goal, but we believed that both of us together were a dominant force, and you plug guys around us, and we can make it happen,” Davis said. “We believe that — we don’t really look for any support outside of anybody outside that locker room and the front office and the organization. We believe, and that’s all that really matters.”
The team, apparently, believes that too.
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