No matter what one thinks of Anthony Davis, the superstar center is one of the cornerstones of the Los Angeles Lakers and their hopes for another NBA championship.
Yes, he is injury-prone, but he also just put together arguably the best season of his career. He averaged 25.9 points on 56.3% shooting, 12.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. Although his scoring average fell in the playoffs, he led the league in rebounds and rejections per game.
Clearly, Davis was a huge reason the Lakers unexpectedly made it all the way to the Western Conference finals.
He has two seasons left on his contract, the second of which is a player option, and he will be eligible for a contract extension on Aug. 4. However, the Lakers are reportedly reluctant to give him an extension (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via Heavy:
“They entered the summer with A.D. on the back-burner,” a Western Conference executive told Heavy.com. “They would like to keep it there, keep that extension on the back-burner. They do not need to do it right away. I’d say they’re reluctant and you can understand that at this point.”
It looks like the team will take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to whether it looks to extend Davis, at least according to the executive who was quoted.
“They want to see if (Davis) can stay healthy,” the exec said. “They want to see if this group continues to be what it looked like it could be down the stretch last year. And most of all, they want to see what LeBron (James) does next.
“But they had some things break their way with free agency, with (Austin) Reaves and (D’Angelo) Russell. They have a lot of manageable contracts, good assets. There’s no contract on their books that you say, ‘They could never trade that one.’ There’s no Russell Westbrook this time around. So if you can take a chance and get Davis to extend on something that is not the max, if you get him to sign a deal that recognizes that the market might not be great for a guy so injury-prone, it is a risk worth taking.”
Still, the Lakers have a roster set for at least this coming season that should be able to seriously contend for the world title — if it stays relatively healthy.
