It feels like it would take a pretty drastic turn of events for Anthony Davis to leave the Lakers.
He’s playing the best basketball of his career right now on the best team he’s ever played for with one of the greatest players of all time who is set to be in Los Angeles, probably, until the end of his career.
It’d probably take them missing the playoffs or being an early first round out, at this point, to get him to sever his ties with LA. At 29-7 with the second best record in the league right now, that looks pretty unlikely.
That’s why it doesn’t really matter that Davis turned down a fat extension offer from the Lakers today, as Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports reports. It was merely a formality — something he was always going to do because it made the most sense.
This was the Lakers’ first opportunity to extend an offer to Davis
Because Davis waived his no trade clause to make the blockbuster deal that sent him to Los Angeles from New Orleans official, he was restricted from signing an extension with the team for six months.
That six month deadline ended on January 7. Knowing that, the Lakers offered their All-Star big man a four-year, $146 million extension — the biggest deal they could give him.
Davis was always going to turn this money down, however. It makes the most sense for him financially. By turning this down and entering unrestricted free agency, Davis will be able to ink a 5-year, $205 million deal with the team giving him an extra year of security and more money.
He’s not signing right now. This is a no-brainer. Don’t worry, Lakers fans. This isn’t Dwight Howard 2.0.
Things can still get a bit crazy though
Ah, yes. Chaos. It’s not the NBA if there’s not a bit of chaos.
Davis could take that big five-year deal and be done with it. He could be a Laker as he enters his prime. He’s only 26 years old and will almost certainly get another massive deal before his career is over.
BUT…we do live in an era where player empowerment and player movement are everything. What’s to stop Davis from taking a page out of the LeBron James’ playbook and doing a series of short-term deals? It would be genius. He has all the reason in the world to do this.
If Davis signs a five year deal, he won’t sign his next contract until his 12th season in the NBA. He’ll miss out on that 35 percent max threshold after his 10th year of service. He could get there by doing a couple of 1+1 deals or a 2+1 with player options and keep the Lakers sitting on pins and needles for the next couple of seasons.
Plus, how long do we really expect LeBron James to keep playing at this level? He’s 35 years old now. I can’t imagine playing with a 38 or 39 year old LeBron James being that fun. He’s going to slow down at some point, right? Right? I’m totally going to regret writing this later.
But look, Davis has all of the leverage here. The Lakers stunk before he got there. And not just the normal stink, either. They were lottery team stink — even with James on the roster.
It makes sense for Davis to leave his options open a la James with the Cavaliers or Kevin Durant with the Warriors. He’s too good of a player not to.
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