How Beat Reporter Believes Lakers Will Approach Possible Anthony Davis Extension
Ever since being flipped to LA from the New Orleans Pelicans in the summer of 2019, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis has been his team's defensive fulcrum.
Along with All-NBA small forward LeBron James, the eight-time All-Star has also been one of the club's primary options on offense, though his jump shooting has nosedived in recent seasons, to the point where his erratic offense throughout the Lakers' run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals has earned him the hilarious new nickname Every Other Davis.
This summer (once the 2023-24 season officially kicks off on July 1st), Davis will become eligible for a three-year contract extension worth up to $167 million. He is currently under contract with Los Angeles until at least 2024, and has an Early Termination Option on his $43.2 million contract for the 2024-25 season, during which he'd turn 32.
In a recent conversation with Jorge Sedano and Scott Kaplan's "Sedano & Kap" ESPN 710 AM radio show, the Worldwide Leader's Lakers beat reporter Dave McMenamin speculated that Los Angeles was going to avoid a costly extension on the injury-prone big man.
“You hope Anthony Davis stays healthy and you get the best out of him next year,” McMenamin said. “But I don’t think they’re going to be in a position to be interested in a long-term extension for him this summer.”
Since the Lakers' 2019-20 championship season, Davis has missed an average of 34.7 games a year due to a variety of injuries, and though James no doubt expected AD to at some point take command of the club's offense as James headed into his NBA dotage, that has yet to transpire, either. When healthy, Davis has still produced at an All-Star level, and remains an intimidating threat in the postseason. Last year, he posted regular season averages of 25.9 points on 56.3% shooting, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals a night.
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