It doesn't take stats for NBA fans to figure out that highlight plays. Oh, and he's working on developing a consistent three point shot.

The NBA is in trouble. Anthony Davis is a good and healthy supporting cast away from a playoff tear.

These are all reasons why the Pelicans decided to give Anthony Davis a five-year extension worth in excess of $145 million, which now stands as the richest contract in NBA history.

If film and my word aren't enough (and they should be), here are three numbers to explain why the Brow is worth every penny he's owed, and why New Orleans will be getting a big return from Mr. Davis.

22

First of all, Anthony Davis is only 22 years old -- and to be specific, Davis just turned 22 in March so he's not even on the wrong side of 22 (if there is one). The last player to receive this kind of money even close to age 22 was one of the best teams since Jordan's Bulls. Wow!

With that being said, Davis got four solid NBA playoff games under his belt against one of the best teams he might see over the entirety of his NBA career. The value of that is unquantifiable, but the Pelicans rightfully thought it was worth a whole lot of wins and therefore worth a whole lot of money.

28.5

By now, we've probably all heard that Anthony Davis' Player Efficiency Rating of 30.8 this year is the 11th-best PER of all time. He also became the first player not named LeBron James to reach or exceed 30 since Dwyane Wade did it in 2008.

But that's the regular season. In the NBA (and I'd expect all professional sports leagues), the playoffs are everything. So since that's the case, we should be focusing more of our attention on AD's ridiculous playoff PER of 28.5.

It may be more than two points lower than his regular season rating but Davis was even better in the playoffs than he was in the regular season with, as I mentioned before, very limited resources around him against the best team in the league. His PER was better than that of both LeBron James and Stephen Curry and was the single best PER of anybody in the entire playoffs. How did he do that?

Well it's quite simple actually.

You just average 31.5 points -- on 54% shooting -- 11.0 rebounds (2.3 offensive), 2.0 assists, 3.0 blocks and 1.3 steals in a mere 43 minutes per game with a Usage Percentage of 30.8%. I mean you don't do that, but that's what Anthony Davis had to do to accomplish that, and with his outstanding skillset, I wouldn't put it past him to do it again.

That's just three reasons why Anthony Davis is worth every penny of everything the Pelicans are set to pay him. He's set to be a perennial MVP candidate who has the ability to take the Pelicans to the playoffs and beyond for many years to come. What that return is worth -- who knows?

But for now, at least to the New Orleans Pelicans, it's worth a whole lot.