When the Los Angeles Lakers offered Dennis Schroder a 4-year, $84 million extension in 2021, they would have hoped to have him around as a key piece to their championship puzzle for the years to come. In a roundabout way, that is the case now in 2022, as Schroder, who famously rejected that big offer, finds himself back on the team.
He agreed to a 1-year, $2.64 million deal after there were rumblings for weeks that the Lakers were interested in signing him. His impressive displays at EuroBasket for Germany would have also played a role, and Schroder now gets a shot at redemption, considering his first stint in LA didn’t end well with a poor showing in the 2021 playoffs against the Suns.
LeBron James Is Ecstatic That Dennis Schroder Is Back On The Lakers
Schroder is the second major backcourt arrival for the Lakers this offseason after they had also acquired Patrick Beverley via trade last month, as the team hopes for a return to contention after a disastrous 2021-22 campaign. Their main man LeBron James took to Instagram to express his excitement at Schroder returning to the team.
“Yessir!! So damn happy to have you back!! You are like that! LFG!!!”
This is a good move by the Lakers as Schroder provides them with a spark off the bench, and this was the role that he excelled in with the Oklahoma City Thunder, finishing runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year in 2020 during his time there. There are no downsides to the move either, as he is on the veteran’s minimum, so on the off chance that it doesn’t work out, they can easily move him.
The upside, of course, is that in case Russell Westbrook struggles yet again, then the Lakers do have a starting caliber player available at the guard spot to take over from him. The team is strongly considering having Westbrook come off the bench as they have given new head coach Darvin Ham the power to make whatever difficult rotation decisions he wants to make. If Russ doesn’t outperform Beverley and Schroder, he might well see himself relegated to bench duty, and we know for sure that it won’t sit well with him. If he wants to make sure that it doesn’t come to that, then he needs to go out there and have a bounce-back season. We doubt it happens, considering all the struggles he had in fitting in last season, and the Lakers now have an insurance policy if things go wrong once again.
