Whether anyone in the purple and gold will admit it or not, re-signing Anthony Davis has been the elephant in the room all season long. This season is a trial run for Davis to see if he wants to run for the Lake Show for the next several seasons. As the sting from being shunned by Dwight Howard 7 years has still left a bad taste in the team’s mouth. This season everyone has to be on their best behavior, as they have to convince Davis, and potentially future free agents that the Lakers are a competently run organization. That includes Lebron James who has , to his credit, had to refrain from his usual antics of passive aggressive statements and tweets throwing his teammates under the bus.
Bringing back AD should not be an issue, at least from a financial standpoint.
A report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst indicated that the Lakers would still have the cash to easily pay Davis a maximum contract. This is because the team has a local television deal that pays them $200 million and they will also clock another $100 million from the national television deal.
Although Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports that Davis turned down a 4yr/$146 million max extension and will become an unrestricted free agent should he declines his $28.7 million player option, “No one within league circle anticipates Davis leaving the Lakers after one season.”
The Lakers could then offer him a 5 yr/$202 million deal this offseason.
