Anthony Davis was recently eligible to sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, so the team offered him a four-year deal worth $146 million.
Davis declined it, leaving people with many questions, starting with what does this mean for the Lakers and Anthony Davis in the upcoming free agency?
Well, it was expected for Davis to decline the offer for various reasons. Davis has already clarified multiple times that he wants to wait until free agency to make a decision. His agent Rich Paul has made clear that Davis plans to officially enter the market, though he is still expected to sign with the Lakers. The last Davis talked about it was on ESPN’s First Take last December, where he said: “I still look at it as we’ll see what happens at the end of the season”. But, why did Davis decided to wait until free agency to make a decision?
First of all free agency allows the player to talk to multiple teams and hear their proposals. Second of all, the Lakers can offer Davis a five-year $205 million, something they are not eligible to do right now. So simply by waiting, Davis will go from receiving an offer that would pay him $36.5 million per year to $41 million. So simply on pure math, it was expected that Davis would decline the Lakers’ four-year offer.
Now, besides that five-year offer that Davis could receive from the Lakers, it was reported by Bill Oram of The Athletic that Davis may seek a three-year deal that includes a player option. This kind of deal would allow the 26 years-old superstar to hit free agency again in 2022 when he’s only 29. It would be Anthony Davis and his agent Rich Paul’s job to figure out what’s the best deal for his future.
What kind of deal would you sign if you were in Davis place?
Featured Image: AP Photo/Marcio José Sánchez
