Report: Davis finalizing five-year contract with Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Bulls fans, pour one out. But the Chicago hoops scene scored a major W Thursday morning.
Anthony Davis, a graduate of Perspectives Charter Schools, is finalizing a five-year, $190 million contract to re-up with the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported. The deal carries an early termination option after its fourth year, the 2023-24 season, meaning Davis can enter free agency again at 31 years old.
Bobby Marks, also of ESPN, has the specifics:
There was once a thought that Davis might opt for a shorter-term contract -- i.e. a one- or two-year deal that ended in a player option -- to come up for free agency as he hit the 10 years of NBA service benchmark, which would have allowed him to sign an extension with a salary starting up to 35 percent of the salary cap. The $32.7 million salary in Year 1 of the above contract represents 30 percent of the current $109.14 million salary cap, the maximum he could have received.
Instead, Davis opted for long-term security. Given his checkered injury history and an uncertain financial environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- if the cap, as expected, rises the minimum three percent from this year to the next, the deal Davis is closing in on earns him more in Year 2 than signing a 1+1 and negotiating a fresh extension next offseason would have -- it makes sense.
Off a prolific postseason run, it also allows him to continue additional title pursuits with the defending champions alongside LeBron James. Not a bad shake for the Chicago product.
"No, not really,” Davis' high school coach Cortez Hale recently told our K.C. Johnson on the Bulls Talk Podcast when asked if anything Davis has accomplished surprised him. “I’ve seen the work that he put in on a daily basis from him being a 15-year-old kid to where he is now. I’ve seen the work and I’ve seen the determination that he had where he was always trying to be better. Even when he had the No. 1 (high school player in the country) spot, he was like, ‘Someone else is coming for me, I’m not there yet. I still have a lot of things to accomplish that I want to do.’
“Even when he hit the shot against the Nuggets, I was like, he’s made for these moments. He’s used to these big-time moments."
Many more of the moments are sure to come. While ambitious Bulls fans may have hoped some would happen for his hometown team, Davis has himself set up for sustained success on the west coast.
