The Los Angeles Lakers and power forward Anthony Davis have agreed to a three-year contract extension that will begin in the 2025-2026 season. It is worth a total of $186 million, earning him an average of $62 million per campaign. This comes off the heels of the temporarily record-breaking Jaylen Brown contract with the Boston Celtics.

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Lakers and Anthony Davis Agree to Record Extension

It seems like 2023 is the summer of the record-breaking contracts. Mere weeks after Jaylen Brown and the Celtics blew everyone away with a deal that will pay him an average of $60.8 a year, the L.A. Lakers and big man Anthony Davis have one-upped it – intentionally or not – with a contract that will pay a mean of $62 million per year.

While these numbers are bewildering, Anthony Davis is coming off a terrific season in which he averaged 25.9 points a night and 12.5 boards to go along with 2.6 assists. No one disputes that he played excellent basketball down the stretch and was a massive reason why the Lakers turned their moribund 2022-2023 season around and reached the Western Conference Finals.

The eight-time NBA All-Star also helped Los Angeles win a championship during the 2020 bubble playoffs. His pedigree speaks for itself.

An interesting statistic brought up in the media in light of this news is the club’s performance when Davis is healthy and playing. The Lakers are 117-77 in the regular season with their big man doing his thing. Conversely, they struggle in his absence, having gone 53-60. Note that that’s a lot of missed games, maybe too many for some, but the terrific results when he suits up are arguably good enough to warrant this deal.

Only 30 years old, should he find a way to remain mostly healthy, Anthony Davis has many more quality seasons to offer the Lakers and give them a chance at more glory. He and LeBron James are one of those most difficult one-two combos to play against in the entire NBA.