Giannis Antetokounmpo says: Mic check, is this thing on?
NBA insider rҽveals Los Angeles Lakers plans for LeBron James teammate Anthony Davis
In the next few weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers will have to make a big choice about what to do with Anthony Davis.
Davis is in the last year of his deal before he has a $43 million (£33 million) player option in 2024/25, and the Lakers aren’t sure if giving him a huge nine-figure extension is the best thing for the team. The Lakers traded a huge haul of players and picks to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019 to acquire the former No.1 overall pick, and they were instantly rewarded with Davis and LeBron James leading the Lakers to the NBA title in the covid-affected 2019/20 season.
Since then, the 29-year-old has had a number of injuries and has only played 130 regular season games in the last three seasons. Davis has been very important to the Lakers on both ends of the court when he has been playing. In 2022-23, he averaged 26 points per game and was the team’s best player in the playoffs, which ended with a sweep by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. Given Davis’s history of injuries and the uncertainty about James’s future (he has said he wants to play with his son Bronny when he enters the league in 2024), the Lakers aren’t sure what to do. Heavy Sports says the team is taking its time to decide what to do with Davis’s contract.
“They want to see if (Davis) can stay healthy,” an NBA official who did not want to be named said to the site. “They want to see if this group stays as good as it seemed to be in the last few months of last year. And above all, they want to know what LeBron will do next.” Rob Pelinka, the general manager of the Lakers, might have had an easier time making a choice if the team’s luck hadn’t changed so dramatically last season.
After a 2-10 start to the season, it looked like the LeBron era in Los Angeles was over and a hard reset was on the way. However, the Lakers made some smart moves at the trade deadline to fill holes in their roster, and in the last few months of the season, they were one of the best teams in the NBA.
Even though they lost badly to the Nuggets in the conference finals, the Lakers were one of the best teams in the league by the end of the season. However, Davis’s history of injuries and James’s possible exit next summer make the team weak. Pelinka will have to decide if he thinks it’s smart to give Davis a three-year deal worth up to $170 million (£132 million) when the team’s future is so uncertain. The Lakers have until August 4 to sign Davis to a new contract. If they don’t, he will enter the last year of his current deal and have to wait until next summer to make a decision about his future.