Lakers News: Did Dennis Schröder's Star EuroBasket Turn Endear Him To L.A.?
Your Los Angeles Lakers just keep adding non-All-Star veteran point guards this summer. The latest addition, 29-year-old Dennis Schröder, was probably the top available free agent still left on the market this week, but he was easily gettable at the cost of just a $2.64 veteran's minimum deal.
Schröder's NBA career has been on a downward slope following a heady two-year stint as a key guard on two playoff-bound Oklahoma City Thunder squads from 2018-2020. He enjoyed a career-best season during a pandemic-abbreviated 2019-20 run that saw him finish second in Sixth Man of the Year voting (behind another eventual 2020-21 Laker, Montrezl Harrell) as the third guard, behind Chris Paul and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, on a generally depth-challenged OKC club that pushed Russell Westbrook's Houston Rockets (remember that?) to a seven-game series.
After Schröder flamed out during the 2021 playoffs against his old Thunder buddy CP3 and a lethal Phoenix Suns team, L.A. was happy to let him walk in free agency to the Boston Celtics for the mid-level exception, a significant dip from the $84 million contract extension offer from the Lakers that Schröder apparently turned down.
So what changed? Well, aside from a miserable 33-49 season with Westbrook taking over starting point guard duties, Schröder's asking price went way down.
Another element that may have had an impact, though, was the German native's stellar run as a passer and scorer through the 2022 EuroBasket competition for his homeland.
This year, the 6'3" point guard averaged 21.6 points (sixth-best in EuroBasket), 7.3 assists (fourth-best), and 2.4 rebounds. In his three tournament games, he notched averages of 26 points and eight assists a night.
Cumulatively, his scoring from the floor was solid (43.1%), though he connected on just 28.6% of his seven triple attempts a night. He did shoot a super 31-of-34 (91.2%) from the charity stripe.
Let's take a gander at some highlights and see if what Rob Pelinka and co. saw. Check out L.A.'s latest prodigal son as he scores 38 points, pulls down seven rebounds, and registers a +32 player efficiency rating in a EuroBasket playing against Poland:
Here's Schröder demolishing a Slovenian team, featuring Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic, that had been widely expected to win the EuroBasket tournament this year -- before getting upset by the aforementioned Polish national team on Wednesday. The 6'3" Lakers point guard scored 17 points and dished out 10 assists:
Finally, take a look at a hyper-efficient Schröder thrashing Greece during a quarterfinals game in the competition:
In yesterday's loss against Spain, Schröder scored 30 points while shooting 11-of-17 from the floor (and 3-of-7 from deep). He also chipped in eight assists (with just two turnovers), a rebound, and two steals.
The team will face off against Poland tomorrow for the right to claim bronze in the tournament.
