The Los Angeles Lakers were rumored to be active at the NBA trade deadline and now we have a little bit more context as to why they were connected to point guards like Toronto’s Kyle Lowry. One big reason is the contract status of starting point guard Dennis Schröder, which according to the latest reporting from Marc Stein of the New York Times, is a lot more precarious than a surface-level glance would lead you to believe.
In his latest newsletter, Stein reported that Schröder turned down contract extension offers in the ballpark of 4-years, $80 million.
“Schröder, 27, was available because of the gulf between player and team in contract extension talks. He has rebuffed extension offers from the Lakers in the range of $80 million over four years, according to two people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.”
The Lakers moved on from Danny Green, a key part of their 2020 Championship team, to acquire Schröder. Both players were going to become free agents after this season, but the Lakers also clearly believed they had a chance to extend the younger Schröder without having to go into free agency. His resistance to an extension makes the upcoming summer for the Lakers a lot more interesting.
