Anthony Davis signs three-year max extension with Lakers

Anthony Davis signs three-year max extension with Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers superstar big Anthony Davis has signed a three-year max extension that could be worth up to $186 million, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report Friday. It marks the richest annual extension in NBA History at $62 million.

BREAKING: Lakers star Anthony Davis has agreed on a three-year $186M max extension, tying him to franchise thru 2028 for total of $270M-plus, @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. Davis lands richest annual extension in NBA history at $62M. pic.twitter.com/bf9kWgD7uz

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2023

Davis is entering the fourth year of a five-year, $189.9 million deal signed in Dec. of 2020; while a player who signs a five-year deal would have to wait three calendar years to sign an extension, Dec. 3 of 2020 (when Davis signed the extension) became equivalent to Aug. 4 of a typical offseason with free agency beginning Nov. 21 (and the regular season beginning Dec. 21), according to ESPN NBA Cap analyst Bobby Marks.

Anthony Davis is now eligible to sign a three year extension that would start in 2025-26.

I joined @itsthebaldgirl @ramonashelburne @chiney @WindhorstESPN on NBA Today to discuss the options for Davis and the Lakers. https://t.co/iLuH6Z7TNW via @YouTube

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 4, 2023

Davis is scheduled to make $40.6 million and originally had a $43.2 million player option for the 2024-25 season. Now, with his extension, Davis would automatically opt into the player option and will be signed through 2027-28.

We won’t know the official max contract numbers, but the $186 million is fully dependent on if the cap raises a full 10 percent in each of the next two offseasons. If so, Davis would make $270 million from now until the end of his contract and $376 million in eight seasons with the Lakers. According to RealGM, the cap is projected to raise 4.4 percent from 2023-24 to 2024-25 and an additional five percent from ’24-25 to ’25-26. In that case, Davis’s max would be worth roughly $169 million, beginning at $52.2 million.

The Lakers only have two players under contracts in 2026-27: Austin Reaves ($14.9MM player option) and Jalen Hood-Schifino ($6.2MM team option), so the Lakers can afford to take the weight of Davis’s contract–especially if the cap continues to rise by 9-10 percent.

Ultimately, with the uncertainty surrounding LeBron James‘ future in purple-and-gold, it was very important for L.A. to lock Davis up. Now, they have.

The 30-year-old averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and two blocks on 62.7 percent true-shooting last season. In 38 combined games without James over the last two seasons, Davis has averaged 26.5 points, 12.6 rebounds and a pair of blocks on 59.1 percent true shooting.

This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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