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The Los Angeles Lakers have had a quiet offseason in large part due to the money they had committed to players prior to this offseason. With the new CBA making it tough for teams to build rosters, contracts are more important than ever in the NBA.
Exploring contracts that could “age the worst” in the NBA, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report listed Anthony Davis and his three-year, $175.4 million extension he signed with the Lakers last offseason.
“Anthony Davis agreed to a three-year, $175.4 million contract extension last year that will kick in during the 2025-26 season. As a result, his contract will go from $43.2 million in 2024-25 all the way up to $62.8 million by 2027-28, assuming Davis picks up his player option,” Swartz wrote on July 16. “For a player approaching his mid-30s with a history of injuries, this has to be a concern. For now, Davis is still one of the best players in the NBA. He was mostly healthy and dominated on both ends of the floor last season.
“But even having played 76 games last year, Davis has only averaged 52 healthy appearances over the past four years. This contract puts Davis on the same level of Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, players who have combined to win five of the past six MVP awards and led their teams to championships. Both are also two years younger than Davis, who projects at best as a No. 2 option on a championship team moving forward.”
Davis Is Worth the Money
Despite the injuries that the nine-time All-Star has dealt with, Davis has proven to be one of the best players in the NBA when he’s on the court. He made first-team All-Defense and was named second-team All-NBA in the 2023-24 campaign.
The Los Angeles Lakers also won a ring in 2019-2020, in large part due to what he did on the court, averaging 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks that season.
After trading a massive haul for him to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Lakers re-signing him made sense.
The Lakers’ front office will have to hope that he can have a repeat season of last year, as he appeared in 76 games. If he can play 60-plus games in the regular season and be healthy in the playoffs, his contract is more than fair.
His Contract Could Become an Issue When He’s Older
A problem the Los Angeles Lakers could find is when he’s 34, as Davis will take up nearly 35% of the team’s cap space. However, LeBron James, who’ll turn 40 in the 2024-25 season, will take up 34.6% of the Lakers’ cap space next season.
Davis will take up 30.7% of the cap space next season, and while the Lakers have found in the offseason that this makes it tough to build a roster, that’s the reality of team building around the NBA in the first and second apron era. Teams have to pay their stars if they want to stay competitive and pay the price for doing so.
The alternative for the Lakers would’ve been losing him and likely having to pay a player of similar value to fill that void as a co-star next to James, which Davis has already proven he can do.