In an interview published on Friday, Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss addressed a plethora of topics, including upcoming contract extension talks with Anthony Davis.
Davis, 30, will be eligible to sign a three-year, $167.6 million max extension on Aug. 4.
“Rob said it best. Our intention is that we want to keep continuity with our team. I’ll leave it at that,” said Buss.
Jeanie is referring to comments Pelinka made at Summer League about Davis.
“I wish the CBA allowed us to talk about negotiations … But couldn’t think more highly of Anthony Davis as a Laker and as a player. He’s helped deliver a championship to our franchise. He’s been an incredible captain and leader. We saw last year, willing to play through a hard foot injury to get our team to the Western Conference Finals. So just love having him as a part of our team.”
Buss may be similarly unable to elaborate on Davis, per the CBA. Or she's being strategically vague ahead of negotiations.
On a per-game basis, Davis had arguably the best season of his 11-year career in 2022-23 — 25.9 points, 56.3 percent shooting, 12.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks — although he missed 26 games (AD hasn't played more than 62 games in a season with Los Angeles). Davis' defensive, and often offensive, brilliance in the playoffs propelled the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers owe Davis $40.6 million in 2023-24, and Davis has a $43.2 million player option for 2024-25. A max extension would bring the total value of his deal to $251.4 million over five years and, for the first time, render him under contract with the Lakers past LeBron James' current deal (James has a player option for 2024-25).
The Lakers could offer Davis less than the max or an incentive-laden contract based on availability, although Rich Paul isn't known to encourage his clients from leaving anything on the table — especially with potential free agency looming.
Here's what ESPN's Dave McMenamin (as plugged-in with Klutch and the Lakers as anyone) said on a recent podcast:
“Anthony Davis, in Rob's estimation, is someone that has represented the Lakers really well … and he wants to continue to have Anthony Davis as a Laker… I am not too concerned about how this thing plays out, whether it’s the max amount of years or max amount of dollars are reached, that remains to be seen, and that will be figured out between Rich Paul and Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. But where things stand right now, I expect some sort of an agreement to be reached. … If there’s no extension offered, what do you do? You apply pressure the other way and say I want out. So I’m fairly confident that Anthony Davis will come into training camp with an extended deal.”
Davis has not publicly spoken on his contract status.
The Lakers are attempting to remain a championship contender with LeBron while preparing for the future. Pelinka and Darvin Ham have repeatedly stressed continuity since the trade deadline and the intent to keep their “young core” intact. The Lakers re-signed 25-year-olds Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves to multiple-year contracts in free agency, and currently have nobody on the roster over the age of 30 other than LeBron and AD.
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