LeBron James and Anthony Davis Lakers sign up for a brighter future

The Los Angeles Lakers have secured a long-term future with their two most important players by signing new contracts with Anthony Davis and LeBron James in the coming days this week.

Lockers and Davis have agreed to a five-year, $ 190 million maximum contract, Rich Paul of Clutch Sports, an agent for both Davis and James, said Thursday. On Wednesday, Paul said James and the Lockers agreed to a two-year maximum contract extension worth nearly $ 86 million.

Davis, 27, became an unrestricted free agent after helping the Lakers win the 17th Championship in ownership in October, but he has not negotiated with any other team. After taking some time to consider the various contract lengths, Davis accepted the longest contract he could with Los Angeles. This includes a player option that gives him the right to return to the free agency after the 2023-24 season.

Late this month, James, 36, took the longest contract he could without enforcing more than 38 rules of the NBA, which prevents older players from signing multi-year contracts. He previously had player options for the 2021-22 season, but is now under contract with the Lakers for the 2022-23 season – the first contract extension he has signed with his current team since signing an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who drafted him in 2006.

Davis waited until most of the league’s off-season business was over – and after the James extension – to sign the deal. Following the NBA bubble championship season in Vault, the Lakers were forced to sign a maximum-length contract, rather than a successful team contract for a successful few weeks. Disney World near Fla., Orlando.

The Lockers seem to have proved their list by acquiring the high-scoring Guardian Dennis Schrder through a trade-off, signing with defensive expert Wesley Mathews, and adding Montreal Harrell’s talented lead card pair and senior center mark check at the free company. To mitigate the departures of Rajon Rondo, Danny Green, Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard, they were also able to re-sign some key contributors, such as Kentavius ​​Caldwell-Pope, Marquez Morris and Jared Dudley.

After James’ first season in Los Angeles in 2018-19, Lockers owner Jenny Puss and general manager Rob Belinga faced considerable criticism. That year, the Lakers recorded a franchise for six consecutive seasons of their playoff drought. Magic Johnson abruptly stepped down as team captain in April 2019, and the Lakers’ efforts to appoint Tyrone Lowe as head coach collapsed. But Puss and Belinga have made tremendous strides back, with the appointment of Frank Vogel as coach and the landing of Davis with New Orleans in June 2019.

The Lakers, who are scheduled to host the first team training of the new season on Sunday, will open it as the league’s consensus option to win it all. The Lakers were not even a consensus favorite in their hometown last season after the clear acquisitions of Los Angeles clippers Kavi Leonard and Paul George.

In last season’s playoffs, Davis averaged 27.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.4 volumes and 1.2 steals, elevating his performance from a strong regular season, second only to the league’s defender Giulio Antodio O’Neill.

This year James became the first player to become the NBA Final MVP with three different owners, and he led the league in assists for the first time with 10.2 games. The contract extension would have taken James’ life to 20 more NBA seasons if he had played it until 2022-23 – the same year his eldest son Bronnie is expected to graduate from high school.