Wizards Reportedly Refusing to Give Anthony Davis a Max Extension: Washington Is Right to Draw the Line
The Washington Wizards want to keep Anthony Davis. They just do not want to pay him what he thinks he is worth.
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported Thursday that Washington is willing to extend Davis long term, but not on a max deal. Davis has reportedly been asking for the max, which would be a four-year, $275 million extension. The Wizards are pushing back and floating a two-to-three-year extension at less than the max instead.
Washington is making the correct call. Every part of Davis’s profile screams overpay if you give him the max at this stage.
Davis Is 34 and Fragile
Davis will turn 34 during next season. He is entering his 15th NBA campaign. He has never played more than 75 games in a single season, and he has averaged closer to 55 games per year over the past five seasons because of ongoing injuries.
The injury list reads like an anatomy textbook. Back. Foot. Shoulder. Knee. Ankle. Groin. Some of them serious. All of them recurring. Davis is one of the most talented big men of his generation when he plays, and the operative word is when.
The Wizards traded for Davis last February and got a good look at his day-to-day availability. They saw enough to know that a four-year max extension for a player about to turn 34 with his injury history is not smart business. Washington is making the responsible call.
The Trae Young Deal Complicates the Math
Washington already extended Trae Young last month on a significant new contract. Young is about to turn 28. He is a legitimate All-Star scorer and playmaker, and paying him made sense as the future point guard of the franchise.
Adding a maxed-out 34-year-old center on top of a maxed-out point guard on a rebuilding roster is team-building suicide. The salary cap does not have room for two max contracts plus the young players Washington is trying to develop. Somebody has to take less. Davis is the more logical choice given his age and health.
General manager Will Dawkins has said publicly that he wants Davis in Washington long term and that the extension conversation is happening in August when it can officially begin. The fact that Dawkins is talking about it publicly tells you the two sides are already at an impasse behind closed doors.
Where This Ends
Davis has three realistic options. He can accept a smaller extension and stay in Washington. He can decline to extend and play out his current deal, which pays him $58.5 million next season and includes a $62.8 million player option for 2027-28. Or he can push for a trade.
The trade path is complicated. Neither the Warriors nor the Cavaliers, the two most frequently mentioned suitors, want to pay Davis max money either. That is according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. The market for a soon-to-be-34-year-old big man with a huge contract and injury concerns is not what it once was.
The most likely outcome is that Davis accepts a two-to-three-year extension at slightly under max and stays in Washington. That deal is probably the best available option, even if it falls short of what he originally wanted. And it lets both sides continue building around each other without a public divorce.
The Wizards are playing this smart. Fans should give the front office credit for holding the line. Overpaying past-prime superstars is how franchises stay stuck in mediocrity for a decade. Washington seems to have learned that lesson.
Now Davis has to decide whether he wants to be part of the plan or fight it. That answer is coming in August.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
