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Anthony Davis has become the highest average per season salary earner in the NBA following his contract extension with the LA Lakers. The five-year deal is worth an estimated $186 million and has an average value of $62 million a year. This new deal is now the most expensive annual agreement in NBA history, surpassing Jaylen Brown’s $60.8 million a season deal with the Celtics that was signed around a month ago.
The deal will come into place from the 2025-26 season. In the two prior years, Davis will earn $40.6 million and $43.2 million respectively. This will push Davis’s career earnings to over $500 million by the time both deals are concluded. In the last three years of the mega extension, AD is set to make $750,000 per game. While certainly expensive, it is worth it for the Lakers as Davis and LeBron James make up one of the NBA’s most formidable duos. Their iconic partnership not only pays dividends on the court (the pair won the Lakers the NBA title in 2020), but also off the court in terms of attention and marketing. It is no wonder that tying Davis down with a long-term contract was top of the priority list for the Lakers this summer.
Davis says goal is to win Cham pionships
While he has already led the Lakers to an NBA Championship, Davis claims he is far from done. Last season, he helped the team reach the Western Conference finals, though the team was disappointingly swept by eventual NBA champions Denver Nuggets. While the team looked far from winning the NBA last season, Davis insisted that they are getting closer and working harder than ever.
Davis said, “We are trending in the right direction. Obviously, the goal is to win championships, and we wanted to be not just knocking on the door but actually get it done, walk through the door. So that’s our goal. That’s our goal every time we step on the floor for training camp, and I’m 100 percent sure that will be the goal next year.”
Through his 11 years in the NBA, Anthony Davis has established himself as a world class player. He has averaged an impressive 24 points a game with 10.4 rebounds, scoring at least 50 points in a game five times. He is also an eight-time NBA All-Star and is still improving, coming off a season where he beat his overall average by averaging 25.9 points a game with 12.5 rebounds. He also recorded a career best shooting percentage of 56%.
