7:57pm: Schröder’s deal with the Lakers is now official, the team announced in a press release.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Dennis Schröder back to the Lakers,” said GM Rob Pelinka. “Not only do Dennis and Coach Ham share a player-coach history together, but they also reflect one another’s mentality of toughness with an extremely competitive edge. Dennis will add both depth and an on-ball defensive presence to our core at the guard position. He is also a proven scorer and playmaker. We are really excited for Dennis to get to camp and get back to work in L.A. after his highly successful run with his national team this offseason.”
4:35pm: Free agent point guard Dennis Schröder is signing a one-year contract with the Lakers, his agent Mark Bartelstein tells Marc Stein (via Twitter).
The Lakers don’t have any cap space available and used their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Lonnie Walker, so Schröder will receive a minimum-salary deal, as Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms (Twitter link). Schröder will earn $2.64MM for the upcoming season as a nine-year veteran, while the Lakers’ cap hit will be $1.84MM.
It will be a reunion for the two sides, as Schröder spent the 2020/21 season with Los Angeles. Stein reported last month that the Lakers were giving “legit consideration” to bringing Schröder back, and now that has come to fruition.
Schröder reportedly turned down a four-year extension from the Lakers worth $80MM+ during the 2020/21 season, then had to settle last summer for a one-year, $5.9MM deal with the Celtics, who eventually traded him to the Rockets in February. Now he’ll return to L.A. on a minimum contract.
In 64 games (28.7 MPG) split between Boston and Houston during the ’21/22 season, Schröder averaged 13.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 4.6 APG on .431/.344/.853 shooting.
Schröder, who turned 29 years old yesterday, is coming off a strong performance at EuroBasket, where he led Germany to the semifinals before falling to Spain earlier today. He averaged 26.0 points and 8.0 assists in the three elimination games, including a game-high 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting against Spain.
According to Stein (Twitter link), Schröder’s international performance raised his free agent stock, and now he’ll get the reunion he desired. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports (via Twitter) that Schröder had been talking to the Lakers “for months” about a possible return, noting that the veteran guard played under new head coach Darvin Ham while the two were with the Hawks.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), the team’s backcourt is looking pretty crowded with Schröder’s addition, but he was the best unrestricted free agent available on the market and the Lakers need to add talent wherever they can find it after missing the playoffs with a 33-49 record last season. Sources tell Stein (Twitter link) that Ham will be in charge of the team’s lineup, but L.A. reportedly views Russell Westbrook and Schröder as point guards, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn as shooting guards, and Austin Reaves as a small forward behind LeBron James.
In addition to the players Stein mentioned, the Lakers also have Walker, second-round pick Max Christie, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Troy Brown on the wing, though Toscano-Anderson is versatile enough to play in the frontcourt at times as well.
Once Schröder’s deal is official, the Lakers will have 12 players on guaranteed contracts, two on non-guaranteed deals (Reaves and Wenyen Gabriel) and both two-way slots filled. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, adding a 15th player to the standard roster would cost the Lakers $7MM due to the luxury tax.
Great signing!
Westbrook and/or Nunn on the move?
Nunn and Westbrook starters. Beverly and schroder off bench
You got that backwards.
The Lakers have now added Dennis Schroeder to their backcourt rotation.
A backcourt rotation that recently added Patrick Beverley.
A backcourt rotation that supposedly includes Russell Westbrook.
You have now got to wonder how healthy Kendrick Nunn is. He is better than all of these guys right now IF healthy.
No he isnt.
Nunn’s burner
You’ve gotta wonder at the sanity of a comment which places Nunn ahead of all three of the aforementioned players. Of course, this is a guy who doesn’t get that the loyalty to a team of a player like Lillard is an honorable thing. Oh, and don’t bother with the money argument as the money could have been approached if not equaled elsewhere. Nunn better than all three of those guys? Riiggghhhttttt!
Mavs missing out on more talent they desperately need
Mavs signed the greek PG Tyler Dorsey instead … Dumb move
It’s basically the only team that will give him the playing time and limelight. Still, min salary…. No more $100M Dennis??
Poor dude has only made 75M over his career thusfar.
If the main done made $75 million in his career he’s definitely not poor.
whoosh
Had Schroeder been smart enough to take the Laker money …. He would have more than DOUBLED his career earnings. He matching up against guys producing less, and making more than him. That hurts!
A bit less than the 4/$80 he rejected. Still more than I make haha.
Does anyone know what the reason was for him rejecting the Laker’s 4/$80 offer a few years ago?
He thought he had other offers coming in that would be more. Nobody else was interested in paying him that much. He signed a lowball deal, played poorly and proved to all the teams that didn’t make him an offer that they were correct in not doing so. Huge Blunder!
They already have a logjam at the point guard position. What does this mean for Westbrook’s future then?
Dennis just missed a golden opportunity to become a German legend by failing to lead his team to victory today. Him & KNunn should be an extremely tough guard duo off the bench for LAL tho. Still plenty of time to become a Laker legend
The spagnolo ‘box and one’ (used by Raps) took him out of the scoring box in crunch time …
ouch.
Good signing for the Lakers. I’d say even obvious. He fit well with them, it made him look good and then he got greedy. To lose out on tens of millions and not even because of bad luck or injury has to hurt. You can only be that greedy if you’re a great player. This was a wake up call to Dennis. You’re just an above avg role player. Low end starter at best. Should have taken that overpay while it was there.
I love the signing.
Good move by the Lakers.
Westbrooks playing time is getting less and less and less…..
As it should. Dennis Schroder is a very good pick up. I’m extremely happy to see him comeback to the Los Angeles Lakers and have a reunion with Darvin Ham. Darvin Ham is looking for dogs and that’s exactly what Dennis Schroder is. I’m curious to see if it is another move out there on Russell Westbrook or Kendrick Nunn. If I’m the Los Angeles Lakers I’m keeping Russell Westbrook as well and moving Kendrick Nunn for a player like Cam Reddish. I honestly think if Cam Reddish can get to L.A. his career will take off. He’s a wing that has plenty of 3 and D potential that they need. Kendrick Nunn do to but he is much shooter.
Hope the Knicks aren’t stupid enough to do that. But in fairness, I’m still wondering what the hell they acquired him for.
Terrible fit
Get Westbrick out of there and you have a 4-5 seed
Idk about the 5th seed, probably move into 8-9.
“Hello, class, and welcome to ‘Bad Career Decisions 101.'” Today, our guest speaker is Dennis Schröder.
Does this class have a lot of multimillionaire speakers come in?
lol at Schrodinger (Yes, there is a joke in there)
He did well before in LA. Wish him well! Westbrook now has more of a chance to be dealt. Lakers should go all in and get some Jazz players
Hey Spike4christ …
Is that a Jim Jones spiking the kool-aid reference or do you just play volley ball with christians?
This a Basketball forum not a bash someone’s moniker forum. I am proud to serve Jesus Christ and one day you too will bow to him. Wishing all your dreams come true and you lead a happy life but I doubt it based on this post. Christians hurt people but Christ does not. I am sorry for who has not shown you Christ love correctly. God Bless you Lyman!
Really nice last 2 additions by the Lakes. Creation/bucket getter was needed as this offence could go stagnant from time to time- Dennis def helps here
Still can’t not look at the glaring need for wing defense on this team- It’s glaring and will put too much on AD all year. Not really too much they coulda done at their price points but some meat is needed at the 4 currently to at least shield AD a tad. Tristain Thompson for Wenyen makes a lotta sense as the final touch barring no trades
Far as RW, Jazz looks less lely today as it doesn’t address much D, I suppose Indy is still possible but I like the idea of waiting till the break when there all more sellers and Rw’s contract is a mere afterthought. They’ve creatively added some talent cheaply here where they could float .500 or better by then even as currently constructed, wasn’t as confident pre- Bev trade
Russ has to be traded or sent home now. There’s no need for his ego and toxicity around the team anymore. Schroeder can run the reserves while Bron should be the starting point with Beverly, Bryant, Anderson and Davis with him.
Rofl doing the same things as last year, signing a bunch of guards they dont need. Still need a scoring/spacing 4 off the bench, and another wing option, but no space left for it now, with too many guards in general, especially similar guys
This and Beverly really make the hield/turner trade rumors sound legit. If they swap westbrook for them, they might actually have a decent squad.
Carmeloooooo. Carmelooooo. Get in here.
It’s a good move. Plus he signed for less than he’s worth. Means he wants mins and limelight. So he can get another contract next yr. He can start in the NBA. He’ll get his money. He’s got years left. Don’t cry for Dennis …..