For fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the start of next season can not come soon enough. Nearly all the big and noteworthy offseason moves have already been made by the team, and one of the only dominos left to fall is an extension for Jaden McDaniels.
But while everyone sits back and waits, there are still moves being made around the league that could have both short and long-term effects on Minnesota. The biggest news item to drop on Friday was the announcement that the Los Angeles Lakers had officially signed Anthony Davis to an extension.
LA’s big man will now be with the franchise for the next five seasons. While that will no doubt keep the Lakers relevant and give the Wolves another competitor in the Western Conference, Davis’ extension could actually end up being good news for Minnesota.
Reporting on SportsCenter with @HannahStormESPN on Anthony Davis’ record-setting extension with the Lakers pic.twitter.com/CClRym5xVj
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2023
Anthony Davis’ huge extension is good news for the Timberwolves.
The contract Anthony Davis signed with the Lakers was a record-setter: a three-year deal worth $186 million. While that is far from the richest contract in NBA history, it will pay him the highest annual salary in the history of the league at $62 million.
This number shows the continued inflation of superstar contracts in the NBA, with more players getting nine-figure deals than ever before. It also reflects positively on Karl-Anthony Towns’ supermax deal he signed with the Timberwolves last summer.
Minnesota has been harshly criticized for signing Towns to a four-year, $224 million extension last June. But even as lucrative as his deal is, the highest annual salary KAT will be owed is $61 million during the 2027-28 season, which still falls below Anthony Davis’ new annual paycheck.
In all, the outrage concerning Towns’ deal was always an overreaction, and AD’s new contract serves to further confirm this. The Timberwolves were well aware that player deals were going to continue to grow when they inked KAT’s extension.
As such, they rightly took their best guess as to what Towns would be worth six years in the future. In hindsight, it appears their estimation turned out to be surprisingly accurate.