NBA Rumors: Lakers likely to sign extension with Anthony Davis to keep their core intact in hopes of championship run
Thirty-year-old Anthony Davis will be entering the 2023-24 season with two more years on his contract with the LA Lakers. Along with LeBron James, the 6-foot-10 big man also seeks to lock his future with the team.
The former Kentucky Wildcat is preparing to play his 12th season and has already pocketed $227 million worth of career earnings. When healthy, Davis is what is always wanted in a big man with his ability to stretch the floor in today's NBA while also providing rim protection on the defensive end.
With LeBron James pushing 40 years old in two years, Davis should be the next man up to carry the Lakers for the rest of the decade as he is being groomed to be.
Anthony Davis is set to earn $40.6 million this upcoming season and has a player option of $43 million for the 2024-25 season.
Davis, who will be 32 years old by the end of his contract with the LA Lakers, should look to extend before October and it shouldn't be of concern if the eight-time All-Star would think of moving out of Los Angeles, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
“I am not too concerned about how this thing plays out. Whether the max amount of years, max amount of numbers are reached, that remains to be seen," McMenamin said on Zach Lowe's podcast. "That will be figured out by (agent) Rich Paul and (general manager) Rob Pelinka and (owner) Jeanie Buss and the like.
"But where things stand right now, I expect some sort of agreement to be reached.”
Anthony Davis had one of his more healthiest seasons in the 2022-23 season, logging in 56 games. He averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals during the regular season and the Lakers reached the Western Conference finals.
Anthony Davis makes an appearance watching courtside during the WNBA All-Star game
The 2023-24 NBA season begins in October. While waiting for training camp to begin, Anthony Davis has been spending quality time with his family. During the WNBA All-Star Game, he brought his wife and kids to enjoy women's basketball.
"I kind of just fell in love with the game," Davis said through the WNBA's Twitter feed. "Then, just watching the women play and just kind of kept with it all the way until I got to the league and realizing how much attention they weren’t getting from fans and things like that and the whole women empowerment movement and the guys in the league pushing for more women to (have) higher pay and more viewership and everything like that.
"So, I became even more of a fan and actually watching and realizing how talented that the women are, you become a fan of that, and you become a fan of the game of basketball from their side.”
Davis has also been viral on social media working on his conditioning by trying out boxing.