Dennis Schroeder returns to the Los Angeles Lakers. A good 18 months ago, the German turned down an $80 million extension, now he’s back on the LeBron James team. What does that mean for the German and what’s next for Russell Westbrook?
Were the Lakers the best option for Schröder?
After more than two months of waiting, Schröder finally has his NBA contract. His outstanding ideas for the DBB certainly also played a role, but in the end it was only a minimum contract of 2.64 million dollars. Any team might have offered this (other teams also had the Taxpayer Midlevel Exception available), according to Marc Stein (Substack) the Phoenix Suns and the Toronto Raptors also dealt with the German.
Schröder’s decision to return to the Lakers makes perfect sense. There are minutes on the table, with Anthony Davis and LeBron James Schröder already knows the most important cornerstones of the team. At the latest since his Instagram video in July, it was clear that the 29-year-old might well imagine returning to Los Angeles.
When it comes to maximum success, there probably would have been better options, such as the Suns, who desperately need a back-up guard. Schröder already played successfully with Chris Paul in Oklahoma City, and Schröder would have had minutes in the Valley as well.
And then there was also the Dallas Mavericks, who observed the European Championships in Cologne intensively. The Mavs might have used another ball handler too, but ultimately it’s not clear if there was an offer at all. There are said to have been different opinions regarding Schröder within the franchise, so the Lakers ultimately took hold.
Dennis Schröder’s statistics in the NBA
| Team | games | Points | FG (percent) | 3FG (percent) | Assists | Rebounds |
| Hawks | 362 | 12,9 | 43,4 | 32 | 4,8 | 2,5 |
| Thunder | 144 | 17 | 44 | 36,1 | 4,1 | 3,6 |
| Lakers | 61 | 15,4 | 43,7 | 33,5 | 5,8 | 3,5 |
| Celtics | 49 | 14,4 | 44 | 34,9 | 4,2 | 3,3 |
| Rockets | 15 | 10,9 | 39,3 | 32,8 | 5,9 | 3,3 |