SAN ANTONIO -- Anthony Davis said he hasn’t “even thought about” the designated veteran player extension expected to be a part of the new collective bargaining agreement, which, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ian Begley, would allow small-market teams like the New Orleans Pelicans to offer lucrative extensions to marquee players like Davis heading into their third NBA contract.
Davis lost out on an estimated additional $25 million on the maximum extension he signed in the summer of 2015 -- and which began this season -- as a result of not being named an All-Star starter or being elected to one of the three All-NBA teams, as stipulated by the “Derrick Rose Rule” in the current CBA.
The Washington Post reported this week that making one of the All-NBA teams in the previous season, or two times in the three most recent seasons, is among the qualifications that would allow a team to offer a higher maximum salary.
“It’s tough when you think you’re gonna make it and you don’t,” Davis said about last season’s All-NBA team. “But you can’t really control who people voted for, how people vote. You’ve just got to move on. Face it and just move on.”
Davis, 23, averaged 24.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2 blocks last season for the 30-52 Pelicans but missed a career-high 21 games, including the final 14 to undergo an ultrasonic debridement of his left knee.
He earned just one first-place vote and 76 total voting points, which wasn’t enough to edge out third-team forwards Paul George (157 points) and LaMarcus Aldridge (103) or even Atlanta’s Paul Millsap (84).
As a result, Davis’ five-year maximum contract (which includes a player option after the fourth year) will be worth just over $124.2 million instead of $148.9 million.
“It was tough,” he said. “I mean, after you go back and look at it, sat down with my agent, coaches and everybody. You kind of thought for sure you’re going to make it -- at least one of the teams. But ... didn’t.
“[I] dwelled on it probably a day or two. It wasn’t going to change [anything]. There was obviously nothing you could do about it. You’ve just got to face it and move on. And that’s all I did. Live with reality and just kept moving forward.”
Davis wasn’t shy about his desire to earn a salary bump when asked about it in May. He joked then that he’d send voting media members thank-you notes if he were elected onto one of the teams.
Asked Sunday if it was fair to say he wanted the extra money, Davis said, “Oh, yeah. For sure. I mean, who wouldn’t want it? But I don’t have it, so there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Like I said, keep moving forward and hopefully somewhere it finds its way back to me.”
Davis, currently in his fifth NBA season, would not be eligible for an extension until the summer of 2019.
