Wizards and Davis Hit Pause on Extension Talks, Waiting for the Season to Speak First

Washington and Anthony Davis's camp have agreed to table extension talks until after the 2026-27 season begins, with Davis eligible for a deal worth up to four years and $275 million. Rich Paul and the Wizards will let early returns shape the conversation rather than commit now.

The timing makes sense on both sides. Washington spent June and July remaking the roster entirely — Trae Young, AJ Dybantsa, Deandre Ayton, Khris Middleton — and nobody yet knows how those pieces fit together in a real game. Locking in a quarter-billion dollars before a single preseason tip seems premature when the whole point of this rebuild is to see whether the new core actually coheres.

The more pressing extension, as has been noted around the league, may be Bilal Coulibaly's. That one needs resolution before preseason, and it doesn't carry a nine-figure price tag that buys time for patience. The Davis situation can wait; Coulibaly's probably can't much longer.

Preseason opens in October. My read is that the first few weeks of real basketball will tell both sides more than any August negotiation could — and that's likely exactly why they're waiting.