The Los Angeles Lakers offered a maximum contract extension to pending free agent Anthony Davis this morning and the 27-year-old superstar declined to accept it, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports.
Davis is expected to remain with the Lakers after this season but prefers to focus solely on the current season. The decision to bypass the extension also gives the team additional financial flexibility in the offseason.
The Lakers were unable to offer a contract extension earlier than this morning due to the fact that Davis waived his no-trade clause in order to complete the trade that sent him west from New Orleans. Teams must wait six months after such a process in order to offer an extension.
Davis technically has a player option worth $27.8M for next season but is expected to forego that in order to sign for a higher salary in July.
Davis’ next contract could be a five-year pact worth north of $200M if next year’s salary cap remains at the projected $116M. That’s a 30% max deal for a player with eight years of service time, then 8% raises annually through to 2023-24 season.
