Despite a very long injury history, including during his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, the team is still expected to hand star forward Anthony Davis a max deal in the near future.
There are a lot of positive vibes around the Los Angeles Lakers right now. Despite a horrid start to this past season and being outside the playoff picture for much of the season, the team was able to storm to the postseason on the back of a slew of impact moves at the February trade deadline.
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The pieces they lacked were added, and the roster finally built chemistry within the defensive-minded system of new head coach Darvin Ham. The 2.0 version of the team was able to reach the Western Conference Finals and set a new standard for their potential next season.
To secure that upside for next season and beyond, the Los Angeles Lakers made several very important signings in June, including retaining talented young forwards Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. However, it seems the organization is hoping to lock up an even more important player long-term soon.
Los Angeles Lakers intend to lock up Anthony Davis to a long-term deal
Earlier this week during a new edition of “The Lowe Post” podcast, ESPN NBA insider Dave McMenamin reported on the Lakers and general manager Rob Pelinka’s intentions to lock Anthony Davis up to a potential max deal at some point this summer.
- Anthony Davis stats (’22-’23): 25.9 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 2.0 BPG
“Anthony Davis, in Rob’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 [agent] Rich Paul and Rob Pelinka and [majority owner] Jeanie Buss.”
– Dave McMenamin
While Davis was a huge part of the Los Angeles Lakers run to the West Finals there is certainly risk in being tied to him long term. Over the last five seasons, he has only played in more than 60 games once due to injuries. He also was not an All-Star the last two seasons, and at 30 there are legitimate fears, based on his history, that he may have already peaked as an NBA star.
Davis would be eligible to sign an extension for three years and a max of $167.6 million starting on Aug. 4.