Rich Paul reveals why Lakers extended Anthony Davis despite his injury history

On Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers gave big man Anthony Davis a contract extension that will pay him $186 million over three years. The extension will allow him to be a member of the Lakers for the next five seasons in total.

Some may feel such an extension is risky because of how injury-prone Davis is. But Rich Paul, his agent, explained why the superstar’s extension makes sense.

“They understand AD and his work ethic has shown,” Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul told Sportskeeda on Friday. “He has some injuries, but it wasn’t due to him not working. It’s not like he came into camp overweight or showed any laziness. There were just fluke things. That happens in the game.”

Davis has missed a sizable number of games in each of the last three seasons due to injury. Last year, he was out for about five weeks in December and January after suffering a stress injury in his right foot.

However, he remained healthy for the rest of the season, and he was a force to be reckoned with defensively and on the boards during the playoffs, as the Lakers got as far as the Western Conference Finals.

Overall, Davis put up outstanding numbers in the regular season, averaging 25.9 points and 12.5 rebounds a game while making 56.3 percent of his field-goal attempts.

At age 30, he should have plenty of high-level basketball left in him, assuming any future injuries he deals with aren’t too major.

Before agreeing to his new extension, Davis was set to become a free agent in 2025. Now, he is set to end up spending most of his career in Los Angeles.

The team is much younger than it was just a year or two ago, which means it could be set up to contend beyond this coming season depending on what happens with LeBron James.

James can opt out of his contract next summer, and if he doesn’t, he will become a free agent in two years. He has repeatedly said he wants to play alongside his son Bronny, but the younger James recently suffered cardiac arrest, which has put his basketball career in serious jeopardy.