What does Anthony Davis’ record contract extension mean for LeBron James?

The Los Angeles Lakers have officially “tied” Anthony Davis to 2028 with the biggest salary in NBA history. Will the next target be LeBron James?

The Los Angeles Lakers spent most of the summer keeping key pieces like Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and recruiting new players like Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes or Cam Reddish.

When things cooled down, the yellow and purple shirt team made the important move of tying Anthony Davis for 3 more years with an extension of 186 million USD.

Davis’ current contract will expire in 2025, plus the renewal clause just signed, the Los Angeles Lakers have “tied up” the 29-year-old bigman until the end of the 2027-28 season.

Anthony Davis agrees to stay at the Los Angeles Lakers until the end of the 2027-28 season, receiving the highest salary in NBA history

Having Anthony Davis in the next 5 years, the Los Angeles Lakers will gradually move to the next target of personnel, which is LeBron James.

“The King” currently has two years left on his contract with a two-season salary of up to $99 million.The question is whether LeBron will agree to stay at the Lakers as long as Anthony Davis.

James personally did not share anything more about the future other than confirming that he has no intention of retiring. As for insiders, an unnamed technical director said an extension with Davis could set the stage for a contract extension of LeBron James as well.

What will the successful retention of Anthony Davis mean to the Los Angeles Lakers’ goal of LeBron James renewal?

“When the Lakers signed a contract extension with Anthony Davis, there was definitely a bit of discussion between Davis and LeBron James and the agency Klutch Sports (representing both Davis and James – PV)”, the technical director anonymous technique shared with Heavy.

“I believe this decision was somewhat pre-discussed or influenced by LeBron in it. James himself may have thought about staying at the Los Angeles Lakers. Had LeBron wanted to leave, the Lakers’ renewal with Anthony Davis might not have come so easily.

Of course, there is still the possibility that LeBron will go to another team, leading to Anthony Davis changing his mind and asking to leave like some players are doing (Damian Lillard, James Harden – PV). But the message I see here is that the Lakers seem to be sending a message to LeBron that Anthony Davis is here, so they will be easier to convince James to stay.”

Highlights of “LeBron James scoring machine

Anthony Davis, Lionel Messi and the highest paid athletes in sports in the US in 2023

The Los Angeles Lakers have just had a very busy summer with many transfer targets being completed. In terms of people, they still have a position to add as the center and will wait to find a suitable name.

As for the story of the future beyond the upcoming 2023-24 season, the Crypto.com Arena team will certainly want to keep the LeBron James – Anthony Davis duo for as long as possible.

Anthony Davis renews with Los Angeles Lakers with NBA’s highest-paid contract

 Viet Long Saturday 5-8-2023 13:23:00 +07:00  0 comments|

Just a few days after Jaylen Brown signed the most expensive contract in NBA history, it was Anthony Davis’ turn to create an equally terrible milestone with the Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis has agreed to a three-year, $186 million contract extension. Plus the remaining 2 years of his old contract, he will stay with the Lakers until 2028.

With this 3-year contract, each season AD will pocket about 62 million USD, the highest annual salary in NBA history. Before that, he still had 84 million for 2 years old contract.

Anthony Davis receives the NBA’s highest salary per year

Along with LeBron James, Davis is the mainstay of the 2020 NBA championship squad and reached the Western finals last year. He averaged 26 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2 blocks last season.

AD used to have 4 times in the All-NBA No. 1 typical team. He has had five seasons averaging 25 points and two blocks – just less than Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In the 2023 Playoffs, Davis became the third Lakers player to have 50 blocks in a series of post seasons, still behind O’Neal and Abdul-Jabbar.

The 30-year-old joined the Lakers from the New Orleans Pelicans after a blockbuster deal in 2019 and, along with James, helped bring home the 2020 NBA championship.

AD is considered a successor to LeBron James’ position at the Lakers

Davis’ contract renewal creates a bridge between the last days of LeBron James’s career and the future of the Purple Gold team. James is entering his 21st season and has a player option for the 2024-2025 season.

Anthony Davis isn’t the first name to nod to the Lakers this summer. They have renewed with Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Austin Reaves, all through 2025.