The Los Angeles Lakers are in a financial bind in the offseason trying to resign Alex Caruso, Montrezl Harrell and navigating a possible poison pill contract on Talen Horton-Tucker. With Dennis Schroder turning down reportedly two Lakers extension offers, it might be time to move in another direction and let Dennis Schroder walk in the offseason.
What are the options for the Los Angeles Lakers? Lake Show Life has a few options.
The Los Angeles Lakers had Dennis Schroder in their long-term plans and tried their due diligence to sign him. Both times he declined. Now based on Schroder’s level of play since LeBron got injured, the question for the offseason is…Will there be a third offer or should there be one?
After the Lakers close loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday, they are in the middle of a painfully slow descension down the Western Conference standings, losing seven of their last eleven games going into their matchup against the Brooklyn Nets Saturday night.
As the Lakers fall down the rankings, Dennis Schroder’s level of play has also regressed. This week it bottomed out.
Against the Miami Heat, he had one of his worst shooting performances this season going 2-12. Sure he had 13 assists, but his 7 turnovers was giftwrapping points for the Heat offense.
Against the Toronto Raptors, he was remembered for Montrezl Harrell coming to his defense more than his point guard play.
The Lakers and Raptors had to be separated after a physical play between Dennis Schröder and OG Anunoby.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 7, 2021
Anunoby and Montrezl Harrell were ejected from the game. pic.twitter.com/hBNxjGyWWv
But his performance against the Clippers on Easter Sunday was the tipping point. After reports Dennis Schroder turned down an $84 million extension and hearing Jrue Holiday signed a 4 year deal with the potential earnings of $160 million, the Lakers point guard played terrible in an embarrassing Lakers loss last Easter Sunday.
- Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from Easter Sunday Clippers beatdown
- Los Angeles Lakers get blown out on Easter Sunday by the Clippers
These reported negotiations (Based on who you trust!) are more complicated for this team than just signing a player or trading assets for a big splash (Kyle Lowry). Rob Pelinka is in the middle of a huge transition project here.
- He has to finish cleaning up the mistakes of Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss. (Remember the Luol Deng signing in 2016? His $5 million salary is still on the books!).
- He has to construct a championship contending squad on a budget (Well he did it last year!).
- After signing key players in the offseason (LeBron, AD, KCP and Kuzma), the second wave of players (Montrezl Harrell, Talen Horton-Tucker, Alex Caruso and beg Andre Drummond to take a $5.9 million one year exception!) have to be dealt with.
- Despite all of this, the Los Angeles Lakers have a $100 million luxury tax bill.
Something has to give here. If the negotiations are at an impasse and Schroder’s production continues to drop, Lake Show Life thinks the team should move on from Dennis Schroder.
Now there are people that follow my work (By the way, I’m humbled and thank you!) know all of these issues were foreshadowed by this writer the day Danny Green was shipped out to OKC to bring Schroder in. To them they may see this a bash session. Trust me it’s not.
By the end of this article, not only will the reader see it’s not a bash session, it will help the Los Angeles Lakers for the rest of the decade.
Let’s go in depth on what the Lakers and Dennis Schroder will be facing this offseason.