EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — We know how this movie ends: Anthony Davis re-signs with the Lakers for the max.
Talk to sources around the league and no other team expects him to be on the move as a free agent next summer. They will all watch, just in case things the Lakers implode in a Steve Nash/Dwight Howard/Kobe Bryant kind of way, but nobody expects that. After all Davis and his agent Rich Paul did to get him to Los Angeles, he’s not bolting.
Just don’t expect Davis to discuss it.
He was asked about it at Lakers’ media day and refused to play along, sticking to the Lakers’ “one day at a time, one season at a time” mantra.
“I just want to focus on this year,” Davis said. “Coming here, the Lakers definitely welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like this was home. But at the same time, it’s about what we can do this year. We have a special team, special unit, special coaching staff and we’re going to do whatever we can to focus on this year and try to come out victorious...
“What I’m interested in is the stuff we do on the floor. Obviously, it’s a bigger city, bigger media coverage, but I knew that when I got traded here, so I’m prepared for that. I think it can be a fun year.”
Davis has said a variation of this before and he will repeat it throughout the year. He’s been coached by Rich Paul and LeBron, who have been through this before. He gets how to play the game. At some point this season when the Lakers slump (as all teams do), there will be radio hot takes and some odd whispers, and Davis will brush them off. As he should.
Come on, he’s not actually going anywhere. We know how this movie ends.
