The Los Angeles Lakers handled their free agency shopping well and while there is still one more roster spot to be filled, the main focus is shifting towards Anthony Davis, who will be available for an extension in August. Currently, Davis has one more year on his contract with a player option for 2024-25.
But on Aug. 4 of this summer, Davis will be eligible for an extension that allows for a maximum of three more years added to his current deal, extending to a five-year contract in total. The max that the Lakers can give him on a three-year extension is $167.6 million, totaling to a five-year, $251.4 million contract.
While Davis and the Lakers cannot talk about contract extensions prior to that Aug. 4 date, it seems like all signs are pointing to a deal being done between the Lakers front office and Davis. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin appeared on The Lowe Post podcast and stated his belief that a deal will be done by the time training camp rolls around:
“Anthony Davis in Rob [Pelinka’s] estimation is someone that has represented the Lakers really well, citing how he played through his foot injury last year as a major reason why they won a championship in 2020 and he wants to continue to have Anthony Davis as a Laker… I am not too concerned about how this thing plays out, whether it’s the max amount of years or max amount of dollars are reached, that remains to be seen and that will be figured out between Rich Paul and Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. But where things stand right now, I expect some sort of an agreement to be reached. A lot of it is one, recognizing that Anthony Davis as a trade chip, there’s no way to replicate the value of what he brings to the court combined with LeBron James when he’s healthy, you just won’t. It’s absolutely impossible. You also recognize that LeBron turning 39 years old and entering Year 21 has a limited window, so then to try to coalesce with a new group if you were to find this beautiful trade for Anthony Davis, that’s follied, you could be wasting what’s left of LeBron and then beyond that, listen, we know the business of this league. If there’s no extension offered, what do you do? You apply pressure the other way and say I want out. So I’m fairly confident that Anthony Davis will come into training camp with an extended deal.”
As McMenamin mentions, if Davis does not sign an extension then there’s always the possibility of him asking out, which is not an ideal situation with the Lakers’ title window being right now as LeBron James heads into his 21st season.
The injury concerns are always brought up with Davis and it is expected that he will miss sometime in each season, but the question is always about just how long he is on the sideline. However, with Davis being the best defender in this past postseason, it is hard to see that the Lakers would not want to reach an extension agreement to keep him around for the foreseeable future.
Davis adds boxing to offseason workout routine
Until August though, Davis’ focus is on getting healthy and ready for next season, and one way he appears to be doing that is by adding boxing to his offseason workout routing.
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