The Los Angeles Lakers will probably hope that none of their players from last year return. Based off how bad they did, I wouldn’t want to keep any of those players either, but some do truly have the talent to help this Lakers franchise. Ed Davis is one of those Lakers. He was one of the brighter spots for the Lakers this season, which didn’t have much light in it. Davis is an unrestricted free agent but he has already expressed how much he wants to stay in Los Angeles as a Laker.
According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
“I definitely want to be back,” Davis said in an interview with Los Angeles News Group. “With everything being equal, I’m 100 percent going back there. Hopefully that’s the case. But with free agency and all the stuff going on with the draft, you never know how things are going to go.”
Davis declined to outline the terms of his preferred contract in length and dollar amount. But a league source familiar with his thinking said he will seek a two- or three-year deal worth $7-8 million a year, or a one-year deal worth $9-10 million.
Davis was signed to a veterans minimum by the Lakers last season, and it was one of their better signings of the off-season. Now the Lakers are in rebuilding mode, looking to find ways to get out of their hump. The Los Angeles Lakers will look to use a summer full of lottery picks and cap-space to sign free agents like Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, DeMarree Carroll, Paul Millsap, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, or any other superstar. Los Angeles will always be a free agent destination, and that may hurt Davis‘ chances of getting what he wants. $7-10 million per year for a player that was a veteran minimum contract to them, is not very reasonable. It’s not like Davis had an all-star type season, because that is the only reason a salary jump that large would be reasonable.
