Are the Kings Really Better Off With This Lineup Switch?

For a team like the Kings that often lacked the ball pressure needed to speed up opposing offenses, Schröder could make a difference. In 20/21 with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dennis was 20th in the entire league for defensive win shares, but he hasn’t been quite the same defender since.

Some of the drop-off likely has to do with being traded (a lot) and adjusting to new systems and new teammates. Schröder will need to recapture some of that defensive magic from his time in LA if the Kings hope to be even a middle-of-the-road defensive team this season. 

This is up to interpretation, but I don’t think it’s insane to say that Malik Monk is better than Schröder in all aspects of the game, other than defense. Last season, Malik was thrust into the starting point guard role after De’Aaron Fox was traded, and he more than held his own.

The Kings went 25-20 in the 45 games Malik started last season, which comes out to a 46-win pace for 82 games. For reference, the Kings were 40-42 last season. Not all of those games were without Fox, but the point is that the Kings weren’t bad with Malik starting. 

In those 45 games that Monk started, he averaged 19 points, 6.5 assists, and a steal per game on 44% from the field and 32% from three. The efficiency wasn’t great, but a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio for a guy who plays on the ball that much is excellent. That number brings us to the first area where Malik tops Dennis: passing.

A lot of being a good passer in the NBA is about passing players open or making passes through windows that don’t even look open, two areas where Malik really shows out. In the play below, you’ll see Monk make a beautiful wrap-around pass to Keon Ellis for an easy dunk. What I want to call out is that the bounce pass hit Keon in stride, where a lob pass over the top would’ve given Toumani Camara time to get to Ellis’ shot. 

When it comes to scoring, Monk and Schröder have similar numbers for their careers. Malik averages 12 points per game in 523 career games, while Schröder averages 13.9 in 842 games. However, that doesn’t mean they’re equal players when it comes to scoring. For one, Malik is one of the best finishers in the entire league as a guard.

Monk shot 61.6% from the restricted area while Schröder shot 56%. Monk also took 30 more shots in that zone than Schröder did. Schröder was better in the mid-range and from deep last season, but struggled in the paint outside the restricted area, where Monk shot 52%. Schröder isn’t a bad scorer by any means, but Monk is the far more dynamic offensive player. 

Schröder might be the better defender, but that might be a wash when he takes the court with LaVine and DeRozan, who are both subpar perimeter defenders. I could see bringing in Schröder to start if the only thing the Kings were missing was better point of attack defense, but the team was not just a Dennis Schröder away from making the playoffs.

With so much else to figure out, it made much more sense to let Malik continue to run the show and see if he can improve his on-ball defense instead of spending a ton of money on a point guard who is nearly 5 years older and not part of the team’s future. We will see how things turn out this season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the same issues continue with Schröder at the helm.