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The LA Lakers failed to defend their crown and crashed out in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Attention has already turned to what the Lakers and Dennis Schroder will do in the summer. Their guard is an unrestricted free agent in the offseason and will be one of the hottest assets on the market.
Contract discussions have been ongoing all year and it is still uncertain what the franchise will do with Dennis Schroder after he struggled in their postseason series against the Phoenix Suns. He, like several LA Lakers players, failed to step up when Anthony Davis was hampered by injury. That has brought into question his suitability at a team that wants to win another championship soon while LeBron James is still there.
In this article we will examine three reasons why the LA Lakers should re-sign Dennis Schroder and three reasons why they shouldn't. Let's dive right in.
#3A LA Lakers should re-sign Dennis Schroder: Could have his best years ahead
Dennis Schroder is only 27 and in theory should still have his best years ahead of him. In his eight years in the league, Schroder has developed his profile as one of the best two-way guards. He has worked his way up to becoming the starting point guard for the reigning champions.
He averaged 14 points and 5.8 assists this year, along with 1.1 steals per game. Over his career, he has shot at over 43% from the field and 83% from the line. On the defensive end he leads by example in terms of hustle and ranked in the top 10% of players for loose balls recovered during the regular season.
Alongside two of the best players in the league, Schroder can continue to develop his game.
#3B LA Lakers shouldn't re-sign Dennis Schroder: Inconsistency
Dennis Schroder has proven to be a decent enough offensive option and a dogged defender. But he hasn't done it consistently enough to warrant staying with the LA Lakers long-term. While he can produce the sort of performances like his 25-point, 13-assist game against the Dallas Mavericks at the end of April, these have been rare.
Over the 61 games Schroder played this season, he scored single-digit points in ten of them and only dished out more than eight assists in 14 of them. In game six against the Suns he scored 20 points, however in the previous matchup he scored none in 26 minutes of play.
Despite still having his prime years ahead of him, the LA Lakers may look to bring in greater experience and reliability from the floor.
#2 LA Lakers should re-sign Dennis Schroder: Cap space threshold
Even if the LA Lakers let Dennis Schroder leave the franchise in the summer, they won't be able to sign another point guard of his caliber. The organization simply doesn't have the cap space. What they can do instead is increase their cap by re-signing him since they have his bird rights.
Letting Schroder go seems nonsensical. That's what the LA Lakers knew would happen when they got to this point in his contract. There will be considerable interest in the point guard should they not offer him the deal he wants, namely from Chicago and New York. However, the player stated after game six on Thursday that his future with the franchise is 'not even in question', indicating he will be with them next year.
#2 LA Lakers shouldn't re-sign Dennis Schroder: Not worth his contract demands
Letting Dennis Schroder leave for free seems like a bad business deal. The LA Lakers likely don't deem him worthy of the contract demands he has already expressed. It was reported that the German turned down an $84m, four year deal with the franchise because he believed he could get a better offer elsewhere.
He could get as much as a $100m deal instead as one of the premier players available in the free agency market. If the LA Lakers choose to let him walk, that will indicate that they don't believe he is worthy of anything more than the contract they already offered. He hasn't exactly been outstanding this season and has had a dismal postseason.
They may choose to focus on developing their younger talent and offload one of their other contracted players to try and bring in a point guard. Alternatively, they could try and arrange a sign-and-trade deal for Toronto Raptors veteran Kyle Lowry.
#1 LA Lakers should re-sign Dennis Schroder: Ability on both ends of the floor
There are few true point guards in the league and even fewer who can defend and score. Dennis Schroder brings a lot of energy to the LA Lakers defense and impressed both Frank Vogel and LeBron James on that side of the court this year. While he is not a great defender yet, his stats fail to show what he brings to the Lakers team. With him and Alex Caruso as back-ups, the Lakers have two very efficient and intelligent on-ball defenders.
The LA Lakers mostly brought in Dennis Schroder for his offensive contributions, however. In terms of their options from last year, he has been a big improvement and had the second-best offensive rating of his career at 107. With LeBron aging, Vogel may choose to give the German guard more shots per game. If he can return to the efficiency he showed the season prior to coming to the Lakers by taking 2.3 extra shots, he will definitely be worth keeping.
#1 LA Lakers shouldn't re-sign Dennis Schroder: Playoff performances
Despite his steady performances during the regular season, Dennis Schroder failed to show up in the playoffs. Bar the 2017-18 season, Schroder has played in the postseason every year, yet this was his least efficient per 36 minutes.
In the six-game series against the Phoenix Suns, the German guard averaged fewer points (14.3) and assists (2.8) than he did in the regular season (15.4 and 5.8). He also shot at just 40% from the field and 30% from downtown, both lower than his accuracy throughout the year. In a series where he matched up against a seasoned veteran in Chris Paul, the differences in reliability between the two were stark.
This brings into question whether the LA Lakers will want to commit to a new contract for Schroder. With LeBron James and AD, they will certainly go into next season as title favorites again, but it's whether they trust Schroder for the playoffs that really counts. On numerous occasions, Frank Vogel took him out of the game for Alex Caruso as he preferred his defensive qualities.
Guess the Lakers players!
