Lakers: 5 Lessons learned from the Dennis Schroder-Danny Green trade

The Los Angeles Lakers made their first big move of the offseason.

Well, there’s no more Danny Green for Lakers fans to kick around anymore. Rob Pelinka started the free agency in grand fashion trading Danny Green to OKC for Dennis Schroder. Lake Show Life breaks down the trade in a special Lake Show Life Lessons offseason edition.

Lake Show Life has some advice for Los Angeles Lakers fans during the free agency period. Almost 90 percent of Lakers rumors will be unfounded. Why? There are a scant few insiders on the planet that have the inside track on what Rob Pelinka is planning (To all of this writer’s fans that believes Ronald Agers should be on this list, humility is full but keep dreaming!).

Adrian Wojnarowski is at the top of the list and dropped a bomb that no one saw coming.

While the NBA world was watching the saga going on in Houston and giving unsolicited theories on where James Harden and Russell Westbrook would end up (Both will stay by the way!) before the transaction window opened on Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Oklahoma City guard Dennis Schroder.

To facilitate the trade, the Lakers ended Lake Show Life’s wildest debate by sending Danny Green and the 28th overall pick to the Thunder. Danny Green has about 36 hours as of this writing to call himself a Laker, because this deal goes down officially on draft night.

Now the logistics of the trade based on a few NBA bylaws.

The Los Angeles Lakers can’t send the 28th pick to the Thunder directly because of a rule that restricts teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years. Most remember last year’s first-round pick Los Angeles sent (No. 4 overall pick) to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of a deal to get some guy named Anthony Davis.

Instead, the Lakers will select the player OKC wants and make the deal official. The Thunder already own the 25th pick in Wednesday’s draft for those following at home.

Lake Show Life presents a special Lake Show Life Lessons offseason edition. Normally this format is for after Lakers games, but this transaction will be a lot more interesting than most fans realize. Casuals will think it’s a  step to an easy back to back championship. That couldn’t be further than the truth.

First, let’s break down the statistics between the two players.

Dennis Schröder vs Danny Green last season stats:

Dennis Schroder            Danny Green

18.9 points          PPG    8.0 points

46.9 percent        FG      41.6 percent

38.5 percent      3-PT   36.7 percent

83.9 percent        FT      68.8 percent

The Los Angeles Lakers have once again found a way to upset Laker haters across the NBA. This deal is almost a can’t miss move, not just upgrading the roster, but  saving money for salary cap flexibility to make current and future moves (More on that later!).

Dennis Schroder finished runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year last season (Behind Clippers forward, Montrezl Harrell), collaborating with Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as one of the best guard combinations in the NBA. With averages of 18.9 points and 4.0 assists, Schroder on paper is the answer to all of these issues the team could have faced.

• Rajon Rondo leaving for more money.
• Schroder becomes an option if Rajon decides to sleepwalk through the regular season if he stayed.
• A very good defender if Avery Bradley finds more money elsewhere on a contender (Word around the campfire is that Golden State is interested!).
• If things go right, he can be a viable third scorer on the roster that will make Kyle Kuzma expendable (Kuzma wants a big raise…Good luck with that with this roster!) for a possible deal.
• Most importantly, Danny Green’s contract is off the books. He didn’t live up to it and Schroder is younger and a better player at this point!  

Before we get to all of the Lake Show Life Lessons breaking down the trade looking forward, let’s point out a very important subject. We’ll call it Lake Show Life cliff notes.

Rob Pelinka is a stone-cold genius!

Pelinka is starting to make a mockery of the people that had the audacity to place him 7th in the NBA’s Executive of the Year race. Was he better than OKC Thunder’s executive Sam Presti? No. But Lawrence Frank will have a cold chill down his spine when he accepts the award.

Speaking of Presti, Pelinka found the only front office person quieter than he was to make deal before free agency even starts. Plus, he beat the runner up out in this deal. Not only did Pelinka upgrade the roster, he saved money at the same time.

Not only do the Lakers offload Danny Green’s salary of $15,365,853, but they also don’t have to worry about paying $1,964,780 to a rookie in a weak draft. What does Schroder make? $15,500,000.

What was the end game here for the Lakers? Rob Pelinka jumped the gun giving this deal to Green when Kawhi Leonard signed with the Clippers. He noticed his mistake, corrected it and moved on. This is something NBA execs rarely do.

It opens up valuable flexibility when it comes to their $9.3M midlevel exception.

Don’t feel to bad for Danny Green. He probably won’t even suit up for the Thunder. He will probably be sent somewhere else on draft night (Either Dallas or Phoenix). If not, he’ll be bought out.

Now let’s figure out the future of Dennis Schroder and the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Let’s get to Lake Show Life Lessons, the offseason roster edition! Over the next several pages we will try and figure out the ramifications of this move roster wise.