What does Anthony Davis' record contract extension mean for LeBron James?
The Los Angeles Lakers spent most of the summer keeping key pieces like Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and recruiting new players like Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes or Cam Reddish.
When things cooled down, the yellow and purple shirt team made the important move of tying Anthony Davis for 3 more years with an extension of 186 million USD.
Davis' current contract will expire in 2025, plus the renewal clause just signed, the Los Angeles Lakers have "tied up" the 29-year-old bigman until the end of the 2027-28 season.
Having Anthony Davis in the next 5 years, the Los Angeles Lakers will gradually move to the next target of personnel, which is LeBron James.
"The King" currently has two years left on his contract with a two-season salary of up to $99 million.The question is whether LeBron will agree to stay at the Lakers as long as Anthony Davis.
James personally did not share anything more about the future other than confirming that he has no intention of retiring. As for insiders, an unnamed technical director said an extension with Davis could set the stage for a contract extension of LeBron James as well.
"When the Lakers signed a contract extension with Anthony Davis, there was definitely a bit of discussion between Davis and LeBron James and the agency Klutch Sports (representing both Davis and James - PV)," the technical director anonymous technique shared with Heavy.
“I believe this decision was somewhat pre-discussed or influenced by LeBron in it. James himself may have thought about staying at the Los Angeles Lakers. Had LeBron wanted to leave, the Lakers' renewal with Anthony Davis might not have come so easily.
Of course, there is still the possibility that LeBron will go to another team, leading to Anthony Davis changing his mind and asking to leave like some players are doing (Damian Lillard, James Harden - PV). But the message I see here is that the Lakers seem to be sending a message to LeBron that Anthony Davis is here, so they will be easier to convince James to stay."
The Los Angeles Lakers have just had a very busy summer with many transfer targets being completed. In terms of people, they still have a position to add as the center and will wait to find a suitable name.
As for the story of the future beyond the upcoming 2023-24 season, the Crypto.com Arena team will certainly want to keep the LeBron James - Anthony Davis duo for as long as possible.
