Anthony Davis signs three-year, $186 million extension with Lakers
On Friday, Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis signed a three-year, $186 million max contract extension, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
This means that Davis will be under contract with the Lakers through 2028, when he'll be 35 years old. This "is the richest annual contract extension in NBA history, averaging $62 million a season," as Wojnarowski noted.
Davis has dealt with injuries throughout his stint with the Lakers, but he's coming off one of his best seasons with Los Angeles. In 56 games last year, he averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals, while shooting 56.3% from the field.
Davis helped the Lakers win a championship in 2020, and he's an eight-time All-Star who has earned four All-NBA First Team selections and four All-Defensive Team nods. He's led the NBA in blocks three times, and he was a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.
After the Lakers were eliminated from the 2023 NBA Playoffs by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, Davis spoke about what he was planning to work on this offseason.
"Work on everything. I never try to single out one thing," Davis told reporters. "I mean, I can always get better at everything, shooting the three-ball, handling, more efficient in the post, mid-range, free throw line, everything. Just making sure that I was better than I was last year.
"I know that [LeBron James is] not getting any younger, so I have to be that driving force to pick him up some games, and there are games where he goes off where he's kind of carrying the team, but we can't expect for him to do that for a full 82 [games]. And that's where I come into play.
"I'm always a guy to look in the mirror. I'm my own biggest critic, and I know it's stretches throughout the season where I could have been better for our ballclub. There are stretches where I played extremely well for our ballclub. So, [I need] to find that consistency where it's always playing extremely well, not having those stretches where, to you guys, I played bad."