As previously reported, the Lakers extended Anthony Davis early with a three-year, $186 million dollar contract.

In response, one of the league’s Western Conference executives spoke to Heavy reporter Sean Deveney about his thoughts, “It didn’t just happen out of nowhere. You can read a lot into it, such as the speed of the contract extension. There’s definitely a James element to it, there always is.”

“Davis’ extension had something to do with Rich Paul, and James was responsible to some degree for what Davis did with the Lakers. Certainly they must have communicated.”

“If LeBron were to leave, their conversations would be very different. Davis would have changed his mind about a contract extension if LeBron was considering leaving the Lakers. But the current message is that he wants Davis to stay. So that bodes well for the two of them to continue to be partners.”