Lakers tell Anthony Davis: Never mind the injuries, here’s a 3-year max extension

Despite uncertainty over LeBron James’ future, Anthony Davis isn’t leaving the Los Angeles Lakers any time soon. 

This summer marked the first time the Los Angeles Lakers truly had to reckon with the possibility of LeBron James retiring. The King ultimately decided to return for Year 21, but it’s clear James’ days in Los Angeles are numbered.

That means two things. One, there’s more pressure than ever to win right now. Two, the Lakers have to be smart about planning the future beyond LeBron. The team re-signed young core members Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura to four-year contracts over the summer and now, Anthony Davis is locked up for the next half-decade.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Lakers have signed Davis to a three-year maximum extension worth $186 million. The deal ties him to the franchise through 2027-28 and will pay him north of $270 million over the next five years.

Anthony Davis inks three-year extension with Los Angeles Lakers

There’s obvious risk here tied to Davis’ extensive injury history. He hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season since 2019-20 and he hasn’t touched 70 games since 2017-18. The constant absences have been a thorn in the Lakers’ side since Davis’ arrival. He’s a brilliant two-way player, but it’s easy to lose rhythm as a team when your second-best player is only available half the time.

That ultimately lands beyond Davis’ control, of course. He’s not really to blame here. It’s a matter of whether or not the team is wise to invest max long-term money in an injury-prone 7-footer on the wrong side of 30.

Los Angeles no doubt weighed the risks internally, but it’s impossible to argue with the final decision. Davis is fresh off his best individual season as a Laker. Finally unleashed as the full-time center, Davis feasted on slower defenders in the paint and posted career-best numbers on the glass. He averaged 25.9 points and 12.5 rebounds on 62.7 TS%, all while emerging as the league’s most dominant interior defender for long stretches of the season — and especially in the playoffs.

Davis is more reliant on circumstance than your typical superstar. He can credibly be argued as a top-10 NBA player — his defensive impact and off-ball scoring acumen are that pronounced — but he’s not the most reliable self-creator. Instead, Davis leans quite heavily on others, such as LeBron James, to find him in his spots and spoon-feed him looks at the rim. How Davis looks next to James will not be the same as how Davis looks without James in a not-so-distant future. It will be critical for the Lakers to make sure Davis still has high-level perimeter creators to unleash the full breadth of his offensive skill set after James retires.

Even so, Davis is an all-world defender and a dominant interior scorer. He’s skilled enough to get by in any setting and he’s always going to be a positive-impact player when he’s on the floor. Los Angeles may fret the later years of that extension, but it’s a strong short-term investment. Plus, the Lakers are the safest bet of any franchise to land stars via free agency or trade. Once LeBron retires, it’s hard to imagine Davis will be leading on his own for very long, if at all.

The Lakers were a few close games away from the NBA Finals last season. Davis will look to cement his new deal with his second ring and put to bed any lingering doubt about his ability in the new year.