Lakers News: LA Could Lose Major Free Agent To Another Premiere NBA Franchise

Your Los Angeles Lakers enter free agency with the fates of most of their 2022-23 roster completely up in the air. Only LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, Max Christie, and rookies Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis have contracts for next season.

Now, it appears point guard Dennis Schröder is no sure thing to return to Los Angeles.

After inking what turned out to be an absolute steal of a contract on a $2.6 million veteran's minimum deal, Schröder enjoyed a resurgent run during his return to LA after an unsuccessful year spent in the wilderness.

Across 66 regular season games for LA (including 50 starts), Schröder logged solid averages of 12.6 points on .415/.329/.857 shooting splits, 4.5 dimes, 2.5 boards, and 0.8 steals across 30.1 minutes per contest. His stabilizing presence on both ends of the court proved indispensable to LA's Western Conference Finals run in the playoffs. As the team's only reliable point-of-attack defender, Schröder became the club's most reliable postseason point guard, even replacing D'Angelo Russell in the club's starting lineup during what would wind up being the final game of its season, Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Nuggets.

Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times reveals that the 6'3" vet is drawing interest from the Chicago Bulls, a team that's absolutely desperate for a point guard upgrade after riding with another ex-Laker, Patrick Beverley, last year, plus and an underwhelming one-two bench combo of Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, en route to a 40-42 record, the East's tenth seed and an eventual play-in defeat to the Miami Heat.

Nominal starting Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball, yet another ex-Laker of course, has already been essentially ruled out for his second straight full season as he continues to struggle with what's looking like a career-ending knee injury.

Tarzana's favorite adoptive son surely values his time spent with Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, for whom he submitted his most successful season while both were with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Schröder finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting to then-Los Angeles Clippers big man Montrezl Harell in 2019-20. He averaged a career-high 18.9 points on .469/.385/.839 shooting, 4.0 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks a game off the bench, playing behind starters Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a frisky 44-28 Thunder team (that season was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic) that pushed the Houston Rockets to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!