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Ask around the league and it’s already a done deal. When NBA executives look ahead to the summer of 2020, no one brings up Lakers forward Anthony Davis as a potential target. It was Davis and his team at Klutch Sports, after all, that agitated for seven months to get a deal to send Davis to the Lakers. He’s not about to leave that behind.
“If he’d gone anywhere else, we would have seen teams doing all they can to have cap space for him,” one general manager told Heavy.com. “But he’s in L.A., he’s with LeBron, his agent (Rich Paul) is happy, the Lakers are happy. No one thought for a second he’d go somewhere else.”
Few teams have available cap space to sign a player like Davis this summer. Without a sign-and-trade, Memphis likely would be the only 2020 playoff team that could give Davis a max deal. Obviously, it’s difficult to imagine Davis leaving Southern California for Tennessee. But if it is a done deal that Davis remains in Los Angeles, then Davis, for one, is not betraying his intentions.
“I have no idea about free agency right now,” Davis told the Associated Press. “I’m worried about this season and what I can do to focus on helping the Lakers win this year and then when that time comes, then come do an interview with me then, we’ll figure it out.”
Davis Can Get Five Years, $200 Million From Lakers
In early January, Davis turned down a four-year, $146 million contract extension offer from the Lakers, a deal that was mostly a formality. Davis has a $28 million player option for 2020-21 which he is expected to decline.
He can sign a deal starting at 30 percent of the salary cap in the summer and can sign for five years with 8 percent raises each season if he stays with the Lakers. He can only sign for four years if he goes elsewhere, with 5 percent raises.
Based on current cap projections, Davis’s max deal would start at $34.8 million and total $202 million over five years. That would be $149.6 million over four years if he signed elsewhere.
It’s also possible that Davis will seek to maximize his earning power by signing a two-year contract with a third-year option. Davis has eight NBA seasons under his belt and when he hits Season 10, he is eligible to make 35 percent of the salary cap as a starting salary.
Davis Won’t Leave Lakers
No matter how long he signs, it would be shocking if Davis’ next contract is not with the Lakers.
The season has gone about as smoothly as could be imagined, especially after last year’s public-relations debacle in New Orleans, in which Davis’ demand for a trade became public. The season was further smothered by persistent injuries to Davis.
This year, he is averaging 26.6 points and 9.2 rebounds. He has struggled with his 3-point shooting (31.4 percent), but his free-throw shooting (85.3 percent) has been the best of its career, as is his 2-point shooting (56.6 percent).
Moreover, the Lakers are 41-12, comfortably ahead of the rest of the Western Conference for the top seed.
“(It’s been) very natural. I think team chemistry is very good,” Davis told The AP. “We’ve been able to do some major things in the first half of the year, and it’s only going to get better.”
Finally in L.A. where he wanted to be and sitting with the league’s best record. For Davis, there’s not much incentive to leave.
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