Lakers News: Anthony Davis Signs Maximum-Salaried Extension With Los Angeles

LA kind of had to do this, no?

Your Los Angeles Lakers will now have their most important player under contract through 2028.

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, 30-year-old LA center Anthony Davis has inked a three-year, $186 million extension to tack onto his current deal, which will pay him the highest annual salary in league history at $62 million. This was the first day he was eligible to ink an extension with the club.

Despite Davis' recent (and extensive) lower body injury history, this deal was essentially a no-brainer transaction for Los Angeles. The Lakers will retain an eight-time All-Star two-way big man with whom they won a title and went to another Western Conference Finals in the past four seasons, probably the league's best defender at the most important defensive position on the floor.

Though AD may not be in his New Orleans Pelicans-era prime anymore as a ball handling big with a jumper, the 6'10" big man remains an intimidating presence on both sides of the hardwood. Across his 56 healthy contests last season, The Brow averaged 25.9 points on 56.3% shooting from the floor, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals a night.

Davis' health is obviously the No. 1 X-factor in this whole situation. He has missed at least 10 games in all four of his seasons with LA, and has been absent for an average of 28.5 contests per year due to various maladies. Injuries have limited his efficacy in the playoffs, too, to the point where his unavailability at the end of the Lakers' first round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns in 2021 not only domed the team's season, but ultimately set the groundwork for LA's disastrous trade of its depth in exchange for an over-the-hill Russell Westbrook that summer.

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