Should Los Angeles Lakers be in a hurry to lock up Anthony Davis?

With news that the Los Angeles Lakers could give Anthony Davis a contract extension, we explore whether they should be in a hurry to do so.

LeBron James will turn 39 years old this season and (with a player option for the 2024-25 season), he’s essentially entering the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. As one would expect, that will leave many questions about this team’s future that they will need to answer in the not-so-distant future.

Considering that it would be shocking for LeBron to sign an extension this offseason (he likely wants some flexibility heading into next summer), one player that could is Anthony Davis. And according to a recent report, there’s an expectation that AD is going to sign an extension before the start of the season.

AD has a player option for the 2024-25 season and could leave in free agency next summer if he wanted. However, the Lakers clearly want to avoid that possibility. Signing AD to an extension this offseason would go a long way in accomplishing that.

What does the Los Angeles Lakers’ future look like?

Heading into the remainder of the offseason and into the regular season, there are a few internal questions that the Lakers have to ask themselves.

How long do they envision LeBron playing for the Lakers after this season?

Is AD’s future tied to LeBron’s?

What would a non-LeBron AD future in LA look like?

What’s the plan after this season, in the short term?

These aren’t easy questions to answer but they would give us an indication of what we could expect from this franchise moving forward when it comes to personnel moves. However, in a vacuum, signing a 30-year-old in-his-prime superstar like AD should be a no-brainer. No matter the cost.

If all else fails, it would be surprising if AD wasn’t still an asset for the Lakers either way. Even if LeBron decides to leave the Lakers or retire, it would be of huge importance to keep AD around to either pivot toward a retooling or to have the ability to flip him to restart a rebuild.

It seems, no matter what the Lakers’ plans are moving forward, to be a safe bet for the Lakers to sign AD to an extension. Even if they accomplish that, though, the team’s future is far from clear.