After a somewhat underwhelming campaign with the Los Anegles Lakers, Dennis Schroder becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
L.A. attempted to re-sign him earlier this year, but Schroder made his feelings about that explicitly clear. He wants more money, and he’ll go to whoever pays it.
In the months since, Schroder has become something of an annoyance. Between his angsty social media behavior and then way his teammates don't seem to like him, optimism surrounding the Lakers and Schroder agreeing to a deal quickly dissipated.
Moreover, it looks like Schroder may not get anywhere close to the payday he was hoping for.
As noted by Morten Jensen of Forbes, Schroder lacks the skills necessary to secure the contract he wants.
“Schröder can’t seem to escape the fact that, overall, he grades out as being an average guard,” Jensen wrote.
“There isn’t any one area where he can consistently apply himself as being an elite conductor, nor is he really terrible at anything. All that is to mean, his on-court value will always be heavily tied to his financial compensation. Rejecting $84 million over four years, an annual salary of $21 million, seems at best curious. At worst, it’s a sign that Schröder views himself as a borderline All-Star, which he statistically is fairly far away from being.”
By the numbers, Schroder is simply in a different player bracket.
“That description doesn’t fit with a salary of $21 million per year. Instead, it fits with the contract of someone like Jordan Clarkson, who signed a four-year contract in November of 2020 worth $51 million,” Jensen added.
There is only one team out there that is reportedly interested in stealing Schroder away from the Lakers. And if something changes on that front, don’t be shocked to see him return to L.A. on a discount.
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