Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons from Bron/Melo showdown vs Hornets

Dennis Schroder was the second scorer the Los Angeles Lakers needed to win this game!

As the trade deadline gets closer to March 25th, leave it to Adrian Wojnarowski to drop a “Woj Bomb” that will have Lakers rumors peaking for the next four to five days on his podcast, The Woj Pod.

"“The Lakers are interesting because I think the Lakers are looking a little bit down the road too at their salary structure,” “Dennis Schroder, they’ve got to pay him this offseason. It’s going to cost well over $20 million a year to keep him.” “I do think they would like to free up some of that money they owe down the line to put themselves in position to keep the guys they have there. I think that’s kind of at the center of some of their talks here around the trade deadline.”"

It’s nothing like a $20 million contract extension to get some players motivated huh?

Despite the Lakers’ three-game winning streak, Dennis Schroder has not shot the ball well at all coming out of the All-Star break. That wasn’t the case in this game as he got his offensive game untracked early scoring 10 points collaborating with LeBron’s hot start.

This wasn’t the best floor game Schroder has played all season (The Hornets guards scored way too much!), but he continued to make big contributions when Charlotte made their runs whether with his playmaking or strong drives to the basket.

Schroder finished with 22 points (9-19 shooting!) with 7 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. His play was important because the way LeBron was playing, it could have been easy for the rest of the roster to stand aside and watch him go for 50 points. That would have been cool, but the Lakers could have lost as well.

Dennis provided the offensive balance that opened up opportunities for his teammates that eventually wore down the Charlotte Hornets.

Rarely does Lake Show Life cross over to the opponent’s bench to talk about a player unless he scores 40 points or more. LaMelo Ball deserves all of the attention that the media is giving him at this moment. Even though Anthony Edwards went crazy scoring 42 points in a win over the Phoenix Suns, this guy is the front runner for NBA’s Rookie of the Year. Read on to see our take on LaMelo Ball.